[Music] close one start really I did not call to order meeting starts at 7:02 Al to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher here council member Coy here council member Harris here council member Patel here council member ptil here council member pointer presid council member schmuel here all right Madam clerk please read the adequate notice adequate notice of this meeting is required by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by n noce sentent home News Tribune St Ledger Desi talk and news India times on December 12th 2023 and posted main lobby Municipal complex on that same date all right so I know many of you are here here to share your perspective on cannabis ordinance and as I discussed on Monday the work session I will be asking for a motion to table this cannabis ordinance um no no no talking back please no talking back now the if we do if the council does decide to table this ordinance then you will be able to talk about it on number nine which is the oral petition and remarks uh you will not be able to speak to it on number six which is the public public comments of the resolution I will be moving this to the Cannabis committee uh for the further review so at this point may I get a motion to table this ordinance president to table I need you guys to be quiet and pay attention this is this we have this motion we have to vote on it thank you a Mot to table motion to table council president motion to table second motion to table no can ask people can stand up please either yes it's everyone say okay so any please you need to respect first get a roll you will be able to speak to it as I said no no but this is wrong you know why we are here you should respect our motion we have a motion and a second thank you to table the motion was made by councilman Cole second by council member Harris to table 22 11224 council member brusher can I ask a question to attorney council president there's a motion in a second can we get a roll call I have [Applause] attorne I have a question to the attorney again I'm not going to talk about this I I have there is no debate no questions during the vote I'm not talking about this it's a parliamentary process I'm talking about the Parliamentary process is that there has been a motion and a second the vote has been called there's no interrupting that vote there is no asking question all respect this is not the dictatorship this is a democracy see I'm asking question to our attorney the meeting has been started in fact you are even violating your own laws we should be starting with the first ordinance second ordinance third ordinance and then you should be going proceed to the last ordinance is possible to take things out of order if the request is made by the chair the request was made by the chair to call this out of order that motion was made seconded and the vote has been called again attorney on table the first second and third why not motion for the first second and thir and why directly just jumping on a fourth one at the beginning and what r a roll [Applause] call Council council member brusher I I had a question to the attorney and and as like there's a discussion whenever something comes up for a vote and the table came up for a vote and I have a question for the attorney on the table has nothing to do with you're calling a point of order yeah go ahead what is your question okay I I have a question for you if this body tables this motion does this body have the ability to bring this back in one meeting and vote on it or does it have to come back if it is unchanged if it is unchanged if it's changed we know no it has to come back but if it is unchanged could this come up and be put up for a vote in August when the Public's away on vacation it would have to be noticed uh it could be brought back um unchanged but it would have to be no noticed and reintroduced Michael you're not understanding my question I understand what you're saying you're saying can they be brought back unexpectedly and the answer is no I I said if if we do not change anything can this come back in August okay so not how you answered it with if we do or if we don't the question to you is if we do not change this ordinance and we table it can this be brought up so it's it's not noticed for two meetings it's noticed for one meeting so if you put it onto the table right there would have to be a motion and a vote to take it off the table um at some point in the future if you're going to do that then you need to provide adequate public notes and an opportunity to be heard on it so you can't show up to a meeting randomly in August let's say say we're going to take this off the table and vote on it right now um you could make the motion to take it off the table for consideration at whatever date that you want to then set it for but then you would again have to notice the public is a public notice the same as it is now where we put this up on the 15th as in like to introduce to put it up and then we came back this meeting on the 28th no if it's unchanged you would bring it back for that second hearing that second reading that's if it's unchanged that that was my point and and that is why I have to vote no to table because I do not I do not believe the intention is to change it or do that I believe the intention is pressure you are out of order the discussion items council president just real quick no at this point the motion has been called and a seconded you can vote as you like thank you councilman Brer oh yes I said I'll vote no to table to table councilman Co yes yes [Music] okay I I will have to take a if the if the audience cannot if the audience cannot control themselves the room will have to be cleared if the audience cannot control themselves the room will have to be cleared as you've been advised you will have the opportunity to comment the the middle okay [Music] continue council member Harris I'm not going to answer until until this is controlled I will not answer until this is controlled they want to bring [Music] it okay I don't want to clear the room listen I don't want to clear the room I want to hear from everybody that's here the whole point of this meeting is to listen to everybody that is here and that's the whole point the reason we are tabling list listen listen to me first and then you guys can decide to yell I understand listen to me first the whole point of this is that there is some issues with this ordinance and obviously you guys have spoken [Music] don't I want to make sure that everyone understands I want to make sure that everyone understands that even if even if this were go to a point where it is voted on and it is voted no that does not prevent a different ordinance from being introduced it doesn't prevent a different um set of of of proposals from being introduced okay and then you will have the opportunity to speak on those as well more double talk from the attorney now okay so you will have listen next time someone out speaks out of order I will ask the police to remove that that one person if it continues I will ask the room to clear the whole point of it [Music] here I'm not the people I will I'm not going to give my V let you have a meeting by yourself what are you say nobody shows [Music] up [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh sorry there if we can if we can listen the IND and that's why 57% Ved for it all right Officer can we stop letting people in at this [Applause] point Sor you we cannot continue this I will have to ask the room to clear but you are on a very fine line ofusing and using put on the in the to Beed okay we're not doing this officer can we please clear the room thank [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you she will not leave the room on the council president council president C can I address the yes go ahead can I address um ladies and gentlemen thank you for coming Council I I you can do that cannot do this because we are in the middle of a roll call so unfortunately we cannot do anything but take the roll call take the roll call no unfortunately without everyone being quiet we can continue because councilman pres vice president will not vote on it if we do not respect and everyone listen to the voting listen I understand what you guys want you guys don't want this ordinance I hear you and you guys are not going to get this ordinance today it's not going to [Music] happen this is not going to this is not going to continue unless we we are in the middle of a motion there is nothing we can do please do I would love [Music] it [Applause] please never wait for the officers come in military is protecting our country sitting at the border you guys are our milary to protect our community don't bring this nonsense [Music] inent knowes you here I understand you guys want to put it on table but audacity is very high that you guys don't even want to mention why why basically either you don't have answer or you feel this people are not entitled to have answer we are above either all could be the scenario but why not today just a rational today if not today then when August that's too far that's a delay tactic people Los brity to show us your power it's just a simple why people are asking why not all right I'm going this clear right now if anyone is speaking out of place you're going to be removed all right that is so everybody can have a fair turn speaking there's a lot of you guys a lot to say it's not for them it's not for you we're going to the back of room this is aard all of you guys are standing in the back are going to have to go back outside the doors and listen from outside all right I just said whoever is standing in the back of the room right now is going to have to exit the room due to aard counc president you're throwing people out of a meeting because you don't have enough [Music] seats [Music] castan Brasher you have to please get back you're in the middle of the road president there is a 350 people can stay in this room 350 people that's a capacity [Music] 350 35 can one of them hit the white you just hit the you go out there one of them normally da 50 and 50 350 350 is for the room doesn't want for about 20 years [Music] than first voting down okay so they prefer us now this room is packed I want to that is what I would like to do I like that idea a court 5000 down in mon that I would rather do it in reverse order take a vat and then speak just take a vat and then speak l and I motion take it off theable you have you're blocking my camera I'm okay with that I'm okay with that I'm okay with that I'm I'm okay with that to do [Music] yes and let everyone sit down just just make an announcement everyone just sit down and get everyone back on table please they would like to continue the meeting all right everyone can just behave themselves stay calm hold your questions till the question portion I'm sure that they'll be more than happy to get to your questions okay the meeting cannot continue if we if we keep shouting and talking over one another right there is a process as long as we maintain the process folks you guys are welcome to be here I'm sure you have have concerns they will address your concerns as best as as they can right please do not give my officers any reason to have you removed okay we don't want to have to do that okay this is your Township we are here you know to serve you and we would like you guys to cooperate with us everybody good with that yes sir question so that's exactly what thank you for saying that they going to follow the council president we should go in The Recess before we any of those we can't recess we're in the middle of the motion all right we're going we hear you we hear you we hear you we're not going to table it if that's if we get it we still have to motion and we have to go through this we don't have to table we can vote no but we still have to finish this motion because once it starts we cannot stop we cannot even take a recess if we choose to and that is why we haven't taken a recess because we're in the middle of the motion but the motion has to fail once the motion fails then we can move forward with this even if we need to take a recess we can take a recess but the motion has to finish before we can continue anything including a dialogue I will allow the councilman council members here to make a statement so if you guys want to hear what they think they will be allowed to do it but we have to continue this motion because it's been motioned and seconded that is the Parliamentary uh procedure procedure and this is what the council is telling me over here I cannot stop this even if I choose to because once it's started I cannot stop it but we hear what you guys want and the council members also hear what you guys want and I believe they will vote in the favors that you're looking for because we are here to serve you as the officer said okay so can [Applause] we can can can we please can we just please finish this motion and then we will continue with what we are this is a process we have to follow the process un unfortunately legally I'm not allowed to stop it even if I want to prevented you from telling this before all right so Council vice president may I have a vote no council member ptil is I'm making sure this vote is table this vote is to table this ordinance poter [Applause] Noel [Applause] no president Patel [Applause] no so now that we are done with the motion so what will happen now let me just let me just explain we're going to go through the ordinance we're going to go one by one when we get to the ordinance for the Cannabis what I will ask is we're going to open up the public comments and you will all get to speak whatever you like to say you will all have six minutes to speak to it okay and we will listen that's why we're here once the public portion closes then I will ask the council colleagues to make a statement if they choose to make a statement they don't have to make a statement it is up to them all right so as long as we can follow these procedures we can continue down this road okay and everyone has to be quiet if you are not being quiet I will ask the officer to clear the room and I will ask the officer to remove the person that is speaking out of turn unfortunately this is there is no back and forth this is not a discussion we are here to do work for the township and we will make our positions known don't worry when we vote Yes or No that's our position on a particular topic all right so if you can be quiet we can continue with this meeting thank you very much all right moving on um Madam clerk please read the ordinance 2208 an ordinance authorizing the sale of two Township properties known as block 49101 l30 and Block 49101 l33 Clinton Avenue Township of Edison all right any public comments on this ordinance seeing none motion to close the public portion motion to close the public second all in all in favor all right Madame clerk please read uh ordinance motion to sorry motion to adopt motion to adopt ordinance 2208 motion to adopt second may I get a roll call Madam CL council member brusher no council member Coyle yes council member Harris yes council member Patel I thought you know we'll have the council comment there's no comments this is a roll call please what's the council comments on this yes Council comment we are not following our own laws now sorry we can make counil comment no we need to have the council comment once the public comment is closed the council comment and the roll call so let's have the uh can we do it in the middle of the r since we had the yes yes councilman Patel you can make your comments thank you thank you council president as I said in last council meeting this is more of a targeted sale though it is for the Neighbors my request would be to cler's office when you send the regular mail letter to the neighborhood as well as the registered mail letter please have the record and also send me the copy of uh this the notification also once you received if you can inform how many bids you have received again I'm not going to ask who are bidding for this particular purchase or what's the amount is I'm just going to ask you the number of residents they they will they have bided for this particular property that would be my ask for that uh and again I'm making it very clear we buy the property giving a 200% premium but when we sell it you know we under sell uh when we when we have to give to the property so that's why I'm voting no for this ordinance thank you council president thank you Council Mel uh any other Council okay uh moving on yes I voted no okay you voted NOC council member pointer yes council member schal yes council president Patel yes Madam clerk uh please read ordinance 2209 an ordinance amending 39-12 23 schedule of escro deposit fees of the township of Edison uh the ordinance 2209 I'm going to open it up to the public for making comments in ordinance 2209 anyone wants to make a comment Nick thank you council president Nick Fagan 42 Edgewood Road Ed recognized thank you um so we've been asking and and we kudos to the council for actually uh adting or hopefully adopting this measure I I would ask that you all Vote for This measure um we've been asking for online uh ability to see plans for at least three years Nick this that's not the ordinance is this the next one that's the next one okay I I will change I will amend my comment I will say that in just a second then sorry so this is escrow and TRC AB ability to to so this is also a great idea the ability that the technical Review Committee which is a subcommittee of the planning board uh and determines something called certificate of completeness on a application whether or not a zoning and planning board application gets to go forward this this uh this ordinance change as I understand it allows the TRC to hire their own experts kind of like a public Advocate something we've been talking about for months and so this is not a public Advocate it's not fully that step but it's a step in the right direction to hire experts and make sure that we have the right testimony on in the records from planning experts from traffic experts from environmental experts so that when we when zoning board or planning board Al denies an application and they want to deny an application that they've got actual things in the record so that they won't get overturned in appeals court so this is a great measure I I highly uh commend uh councilman poiner for bringing it and councilman president Patel for bringing it and I I vote vote for this yes a million times thank you thank you Nick any other members of the public uh seeing none can I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close the public portion second all in favor hi hi uh any Council comments council president councilman P this is a wonderful step in the process that you know hopefully this will help us to hire more experts and represent the taxpayers and the residents here again I'll be supporting this ordinance thank you councilman Patel anyone else as for me I think this is a great initiative I think this will clearly help our board have a stronger case when it does go to legal and if hopefully it won't any decisions that the board makes will have a stronger support and the decisions don't get overturned uh with that said U Madam clerk may I get a roll call oh may I get a motion to adopt motion to adopt second second may I get a roll call council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes Council Schmo well yes council president Patel yes uh Madame clerk uh please read ordinance council president I'm just recommending a motion to go into recess may I have a second second okay um may I get a roll call um how long is the motion Rec how long is this uh Rec minute recess 5 minutes recess Rec may I have a second for the five minute recess second may I get a roll call council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member Harris yes council member ptil no because there are 100 plus people waiting in the room I don't want to waste their [Applause] [Music] [Applause] time M pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president B no no okay fortunately the recess passed so we have to wait 5 minutes so the meeting will be back in order in 5 minutes I'll you all right everybody please sit down thank you yeah because right now we don't want no more you all right we're going to Mo we're going to motion it to allow the council to speak first prior to public cannot can we roll call prior to cannot take the council V everyone that okay so for we are back in such at 7:44 motion to reconvince motion to reconvene please motion to reconvene second all in favor all okay okay Madam clerk please read ordinance 2210 an ordinance amending section 36-7 major subdivisions 36 6 -6.1 the sketch plan application requirements preliminary site plans final site plans large water services prary site plan approval hearings of the code of the township V to update and modernize the availability of electronical submissions on applications for developments thank you madam clerk uh this is now open to the public if anybody wants to speak on ordinance 2210 counc president can the council make comments before this is for the 2210 okay oh I'm sorry is uh anyone in the public uh Nick Nick Fagen 42 Edgewood still um you recognized thank you council president um so for those that don't know what this ordinance is about it changes the the language of the code of the town which is the local laws of the town to allow for online ability to look up planning zoning land use uh applications that are going on in town this has been something that the folks that are interested in land use law and land use cases here in town have been looking at for three years I think I've only lived in the town for three years and and we had a previous business administrator when we started first asking and we said it would be soon and it would be soon so I applaud the council for putting this up putting allowing allowing Sunshine into the process of land use cases allowing the ability of the public to just go to a website 24/7 anytime they want they can go and see the application instead of having to trounce down here to town hall and bother the poor people upstairs uh from the hours of 4 or 8 to 4: and and that's the only time there are plenty of other towns in New Jersey that have also done this and I've heard some of the security concerns from the last council meeting but I don't see them they're founded I I agree with Miss councilman pointer that we've found errors there have been people of the public that have found errors in the counts of bedrooms and the counts of square footage when they actually get to review the plans and so I would encourage you all to vote Yes a thousand times for this thank you thank you Nick Anthony Anthony Dam 25 Wy um just a quick question first uh this I guess uh Nick explained it um but this would give access to to the public for the public to to view site plans and stuff is that that what so I obviously I I then support it um big time um and just another question large water services this might be a stupid question but what is that in reference to um what does that mean exactly large War just a so the majority of the Amendments made are for the uh submission of plans uh in various aspects of the code uh large water services under 27- 2.11 I believe and uh I can look this up and we can discuss afterwards if I'm wrong um but I believe it has to do with uh the installation of um essentially utility grade and size uh water providers uh sewage plants things like like that uh the portion of it that's being amended is to permit the um the submission of uh electronic data uh in a format other than a CD which is all the code provides for right now so that it's it's easier for the township to accept deal with access and ultimately if if that's the intention to put online okay thank you thank you council president thank you Anthony anyone elsei Jeri Edison um I agree with Nick Fagan this is a good move but I just have a question when the everything submitted when is it available for the public to in order to to to see this because sometimes that you wait till the last minute to see the side plan and stuff so uh timing of availability uh the timing within the ordinance itself actually changes the code to require that it the plans are available at the time that the agenda for the meeting at which it is to be discussed is posted so at the time that that agenda gets posted it would also be made available so when the same same time the agenda is is out okay thank you anyone else from the public all right seeing none uh motion to close the public portion motion to close second may I get a second second uh motion by Council vice president second by councilman pel any Council comments council president John I guess procedurally this is for the motion first before comments correct yes um I'm going to motion to table this I will give my comments as to why after if if the uh table moves forward okay yesc if I can make the comment on that to me this is a wonderful uh initiative we all talk about the transparency this ordinance is going to bring the transparency when it is submitted residents can view it in fact I went one step further and requested council president to link these documents through sdl portal so we have one stop solution where residents can go look at the permits look at the sorry hold hold on just one second just a point of order here Mr pointer was that a motion to table or did you just intend to table it eventually was that a motion to table that was a motion call for a second council president again procedurally until all the council comments are done we can't just table it you need to give an opportunity to every single council person to speak there's a motion procedurally there has to be a second so then a roll call no that's that's the reason I'm saying you know you open this for the council comment so there you have to finish the council comment first but if someone call point of order council president once we second it everybody can comment I don't think anyone seconded it though no one yeah so it's fine you you can continue coun you have a motion he can make the motion at any point on a motion to table and he can actually call the question and cut off discussion at any point if someone's willing to Second it okay you're not required to permit continued discussion unless the council wishes to permit discussion however he did make a motion to table rather than enter into the discussion phase that needs to be handled first okay so do I have a second for the motion to table second all right so I have a second may I get a roll call and you can permit discussion during the roll before the roll call okay so now during the roll call portion you canm discussion part okay so now I can open up to council I think you know we need to fin line or fine tune our process because we are just going in a different direction for different uh ordinances my comment is very clear that this is a great Initiative for the fact that this is going to bring the transparency to the residents uh last council meeting I even mention to link these documents in sdl Portal so that the residents will have a One-Stop solution to search by an address search by an applicant search by the permit number look at any open permits look at the drawing so this is a wonderful wonderful initiative and hence I will be supporting this council president thank you council president council president I I'd like to hear a little bit more about the security concerns that were brought up at the uh at the last meeting I want to hear because this this seems to be meeting with very positive a very positive response but I'd like to hear more about the con the security concerns if this can be addressed by whomever I believe uh I can okay uh anyone wants to take that councilman Brer yes I I this ordinance as it is I I mean I this is important um I think we're finally coming into to the new century here um so it is good that we don't need to look at paper and you can look at this online the only concern that I had was with the interior space and and and I spoke to my colleague where he told me that he went to a meeting and they showed two bedrooms instead of one bedroom or whatever it is um I mean let's be honest here if if you're a builder right and you're looking to get something approved and you're only supposed to have one bedroom they're going to make a big den and we all know that once they get their approval and they move in and they get it signed off they're just going to put up a wall and put a door in it um so so the interior really what happens on the inside of the dwelling is isn't really relevant in my mind to Planning and Zoning because it's a big box that they're building what most of our residents here are all concerned about are setbacks how close they are going to be to your backyard um things of that nature and that would be covered you know in here so my only problem was you know posting the stuff for the the inside um and since this is a cannabis room here right if somebody was going to build a cannabis facility would we want to show them where they're keeping all the pot so that they know that they just have to cut a hole in the roof in the one corner and those are the type of security concerns is it great no it's not but I don't think the public loses anything by not seeing the interior of a dwelling or knowing that they're going to use a Col or sink um but but those were the concerns and that would be it thank you Council presc Brer those that council president councilman again I think this is a great opportunity for us to be in you know to the um you know 2024 having plans online for people to see and it's important there's a group of folks that come all the time have to come to the town hall to pick up plans uh and I think when and if there's a controversial project it's important that everybody can get access to those plans and that's still available for everybody you get a copy of those plans the problem I see in this is when it comes to uh and I'm voting the table is is that the it's the public space any space once we start online it's very tough to layer who gets what once a plan is submitted and a full plan it'll be the plan to your home it'll be the plan to your aition everything will be exposed in your home every be exposed in a public property it Mr she board member spoke feral board memb spoke I I see where he's at us moving forward and having this great opportunity but we' also releasing public school information every opportunity would be online not just for as as in residents but for the world to see today I'm not ready for it I'm I'm voting to tablet to look at how we can modify it uh today if someone wants plans we will we always have copy plans for people made them available and we will continue to do that I think there's a few people in this room that have a great point in why we should do this just not now I don't want your bedroom your kids' bedroom I don't want your school I don't want your public building to know where hazardous spaces are where things are that people should not know outside the township of Edison these plans online will be accessible for anybody in the world to see what's going on in our public spaces our public buildings our our our schools everything that's submitted will be online including what you submit when you submit an addition on your home that full plan will be online for everybody to see uh so you have to just think about that and that's the purpose of why I'm tbling today thank you thank you councilman Coyle anyone else council president councilman pointer thank you council president um I hear the concerns of my colleagues pardon me um while I may not fully agree at the moment I want to understand better now uh councilman Brer brought up a good point on the interior and using the Cannabis as an example just hear me out please if you go to the West Orange website right now that is one of the townships that has been referenced as a municipality that actually uploads their plans right now just so happens that the most recent planning board application was for a cultivator facility in West Orange which actually had the interior of the facility shown so in scene I understand at least to a degree where that concern is and I am okay with revisiting it to make sure that everyone is comfortable I will admit in regards to the online versus just PDF submission I think that we could separate them so that member members like me on on the planning board don't have these huge packets which I was going to bring but I forgot um huge packets of documents and plans that we have to carry and physically look at it would help on the planning board side from the uh land use member side from the PDF submission but I understand the concerns that are brought up in regards to um it being online for certain items Andor the logistics of actually making sure that they are put on in time within the process that we are looking to established um so that is why I am motioning to table because I want to look take a little bit of a deeper dive with my colleagues that may have questions or further concerns with it and thank coun president oh anyone else okay Council M council president again we are in 24 uh 21st Century we know that how the information technology works if it is about the security we can always lock some of the drawings based on who wants to see I don't want to talk about use the words authentication authorization all that kind of stuff those are buzzword for you but for us it's very easy to control who can see what so it is not about what plan can be online if I'm a party who wants to view by the way when we are talking about security especially for residential or any other the plan you think the Builder uh when the leing agent is not putting the the diagrams in interior go look at any real estate listing everything is there including Furniture bedrooms everything so again the word I use the transparency for the fact that if I'm buying a house I know that there were only two bedrooms they were approved as per the original plan if there is no addendum for any addition then it was illegally probably the additional rooms were created so that's where I will be more Keen to see inside what was approved again from the the online standpoint of view I think it has to go online we can talk about technology implementation how we can control what part of the document so hence I'll be supporting thank you C Patel uh as for me I think this is a great initiative I think it's important that we as a governing body has all the things that we talk about in front for the public especially for people that watch the planning board and the zoning board board meetings and if they don't have the plans to follow along a lot of the times you get lost so I think it's important to get the documents in front of the public at the same time I am concerned about the same security risk I believe if someone is so creative they can still get the plans through going to the municipality building and get the same plans the only thing we're stopping them is making one step less but I do want to table this to give the council another chance to take a look at it address their concerns and then maybe bring it back at a dat or late so may I get a roll call motion we had a motion John made the motion and we did oh can I get a roll call on the motion to table this is a motion to table council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Harris yes council member pil no to table I'm not a fan of when it comes to the adoption council member pointer yes council member shuel yes council president Patel yes okay table so ordinance 2210 is table now ordinance 2211 I understand that a lot of people are going to be looking to speak to this but before we open this up to the public I am going to change the procedure and I'm going to ask for a motion to allow the council to speak first so that way everyone understands what the intention of the council is and not everyone if you choose not to speak you don't have to if everyone wants to speak you can I would hope that if someone already spoken to the point that you are going to make you can always come up and say hey I agree with that person because as you can see there's a lot of people here to speak and I would like to hear from every one of you so let's try to accommodate everybody that we can all right uh so can I get a motion to change the procedure to allow the council to speak first on this ordinance motion to Second adjust all right I have a motion from councilman pointer a second confirm councilman Coyle may I get a roll call council member brusher yes council member Cole yes council member Harris yes council member pel yes council member pointer yes council member schal yes council president yes all right so Madam clerk please read ordinance 2211 an ordinance amending chapter 37 zoning requirements and land use regulations for cannabis business okay and uh may I council president all right councilman coil president I'm going to be voting no for this today and uh I know those who are sitting here waiting [Applause] uh those who are sitting here waiting to discuss um if you can make your comments brief so other people can speak you can yield your time as you choose it's your six minutes but there is a lot of people here if you add up six minutes we could be here till two in the morning so it's great to hear from everybody if you have something new to say wonderful again council president without no further I will be voting no when we vote on this thank you co councilman P thank you council president you know when the meeting started I was really unhappy uh because we really were murdering the democracy and the process of our uh work session but anyway I think you know based on my last 8 nine years this is the highest number of residents taxs who car the community came to this Council chamber they came for nothing they came for nothing that shows how sensitive this issue is to the residents and to the taxpayers I think you know this was an attempt when we started this I I call This And I said this is undemocratic this wasn't a time to choke the residents White but I'm happy to see that you know residents will get time to speak so here are my pointers here thank you to board president and the entire Board of Education [Applause] for passing the resolution and sending it to the council so we are also equally serious about this issue the reason I'm saying that in fact this Council should be more cognizant about the impact of any ordinance that we approve or we put this on agenda and the reason I'm thanking babed they took initiative to send it back to us in fact it should have been all the way around coming back to the the ordinance itself when we introduced the ordinance I was very clear that this ordinance is a detrimental to the community at large this is not about South Edison North Edison Clara Barton we have to think through the impact of this ordinance and canab be spread throughout the town and the impact on our school system the people who move into this town is because of the great school system because of the great neighborhood is a safe town and we love this town and this ordinance have been creating a detrimentally effect the last council meeting I'm not mentioning the Monday's meeting but the last one all the council people gave their own uh I would say the speech are their comment why they are supporting this ordinance I don't think they ever thought what's the impact the long-term impact we are talking about the revenue we are talking about the access and even I said that we will be getting you know there will be facility in maach and drive-thru there is in Highland par there will be in South planfield there is already in one Wood Bridge the current Zone that we picked that was the reason for that that it is far away from the residential neighborhood it is far away from the the school system and and we are still honoring the people who wanted the Cannabis in the town so we did what we could do as this Council but what this change this again these all these zones were discussed three years ago and it was we kind of came out again I have councilman pressure we said this is dead wrong we can't put this into the the neighborhoods where you know we have the uh dense population whether good or bad Edison real estate is at Peak we have very dense Community you go anywhere you see many many people right so it is not that you know we we have one M stretch that no one is living we are very dense Community it it's a community that cares our neighborhood so the reason again you all have to come here is because there's a lack of representation we keep talking about hey you have the council unfortunately if you look at all the locations on this ordinance are from 088 817 zip code and I don't think the council person or the council that that neighborhood is represented well so maybe this is a trigger point for us to look at the W so that this Council will have more members from the south Edison who can represent their voices again I'm not saying that who should come who should not and who has what position on this particular but I think this is I think the moment that you know the people has to think about do we need the representation from the south Edison to represent their interest when I said that I'm at large so it's my interest to protect everyone regardless South north or clarton and that's why I'm opposing this ordinance this could be another opportunity of public Advocate and the reason I'm bringing this up if the cannabis store comes in your neighborhood God forbid even the this fails and new ordinance comes in and it happens to be in your neighborhood who do you have to represent in the Planning and Zoning Board none how many people from that particular neighborhood you will be able to bring into the council meeting because the council won't be able to help we'll do the football match here we'll say this is zoning issue this is planning issue and all that circus will start so this is all again this is protecting our interest regardless whether you live and again another public Advocate it's very important for this town unfortunately it didn't go through last year but this is the time for us to look at so that we can protect the interest of the taxpayer I think you know I covered you know most of the my points and I will be voting definitely no to to change of this [Applause] a councilman p uh Council vice president yes first of all I want to tell everyone I really appreciate your passion in being here it means it means a lot for us to hear what you have to say and uh your presence here is appreciated this this unfortunately this ordinance was introduced in such a way I'm going to use words that would rhyme that would uh we would uh it would rhyme with Buster luck it would it the the ordinance was introduced in such a clumsy clumsy P way the communication about it it's just awful just awful and so I believe it is it is the right thing to do to to uh dis have this discussed um what I will say is and I haven't made a decision about where where we're going to go with this we are going to be forming a the sub committee we the the details on that are still are still to come details on that please please listen everybody please I'm asking I'm asking for your respect please listen thank you thank you thank you so we are we're going to take a look at this here from all sides not sure exactly what that's going to look like but we will hear from all sides and um I will to to the concerns about this being brought up again in the dead of night not while I'm sitting here is that going to happen I would not allow this to be in the dead of summer when people are on vacation so we would we as long as I'm sitting here as long as I'm Council vice president I would not allow uh any amended ordinance to or or a new brand new ordinance to come up when nobody's looking that ain't going to happen that's not going to [Applause] happen right thank you Council so um so I so once again I I appreciate I appreciate everyone's uh everyone's passion about this there's a lot to there's a lot to to dig through interested to hear what you're going to have to say at the end of council comments and again thank you for being here thank you Council vice president uh anyone else council president Council uh councilman pointer no it's okay councilman pointer thank you council president I'm aware of what my comments were two weeks ago during the introduction allow me to be frank I don't need to because I understand the backlash I'm about to get I have a differing opinion in regards to the community effect that cannabis has versus many of you here and several on the dis with that said I am an elected official for the township of Edison I made a comment during my statement with the adopted area thing where I stated the people that I talk to they all want to do cleanups they all want to adopt these areas but that's the circle that I was in reference I am hearing your feedback when I made my statements in regards on two weeks ago I made mention that my understanding was in regards that the buffers were remaining intact with the clarification since then I think it's only fair to reevaluate that's why personally I'm okay with tabling but I understand with what's here EXC bless excuse me I'm not going to motion the table we're going to go through it's already been all right I just want to say that I am hearing everyone's concerns I know that there is a demographic that does have a differing opinion and that's okay excuse sir excuse me excuse me excuse me excuse me excuse please respectfully listen please respectfully listen it's not fair that you you have to listen to the councilman pointer please we talked about diversity and being and hearing everyone yet when I offer a counter that's what I am received with I'm being open and Frank about the discussion here and I think that's healthy for us as people and as residents of the Township a when the vote comes you'll you'll see how I vote I guess but thank you my my my only thing is that I'm hearing what everyone is saying I I do agree that if this comes back up it needs to be re-evaluated and modified versus how it how it was currently presented and done so in a roll out that is uh much more open and for thank you councilman pointer uh councilman brusher yes um I'd like to first off thank our residents for coming out to this meeting [Applause] [Music] [Applause] tonight it's it's the residents here that matter that that's who we work for this evening I heard that we need to do work for the township I disagree I believe that I was elected to do the work of the people so irregardless of my personal beliefs in in cannabis or pot whatever you want to call it um I went through this the last time that it got approved and we put it into an industrial area and it was because I spoke to hundreds of our residents um and hundreds of them did not want this in the neighborhoods okay there were three or four um we might have one here tonight but but there were there were a couple but a majority of of the residents didn't want it and and that was one of the reasons why when this was first proposed to be put on the agenda I voted no um I believe with councilman ptil um because we went through this before now with that being said you know this is all on the south side of Edison now and it's not on the North side but I will tell you this I would fear that it's going to if we approve it on the South Side they're going to move it to the North side I mean we all know what government does and and that's one of the reasons when everybody ever heard me talk about a ward system that's why you need representation from your area so that the people is what gets spoken up at this Das now with that said I'd like to we've been given and the public I I assume have heard that we're going to receive 500,00 th000 a store or or whatever the number may be I I want the public to really think I I know I'll put this way I some of you out here I know have businesses I know you personally so so I know you have businesses but just think of this as a liquor store if there was one liquor store in Middle sex County and they generated and gave the township $500,000 right 500,000 if every other town in Middle sex County opened up many other liquor stores so now you didn't have one but you had 10 each town would only get $50,000 you you're not going to sell more liquor because you opened up more stores so the money that's quoted that Woodbridge is getting Edison is never going to see and and at the end of that at the end of that even if it's $50,000 as anybody here knows and and and I I scream at the business administrator when we're spending $20,000 over um money does matter but does it matter when we change the quality of life in our community does it matter when you lose property values in your community all those Reasons I'm voting no [Applause] tonight okay uh anyone else all right seeing them as for me I will also be voting no on this for my reason uh I felt that the language and the location need to be reevaluated I hear the concerns the residents have concerns with the dispensaries they don't want want cannabis in the school they don't want cannabis around the neighborhood I understand that I think we can listen listen listen listen let me just finish my thought I understand you guys have a lot of strong opinion on this I understand but let me just finish my thoughts and then we can continue this you will all have your chance to speak so I understand that you guys don't want dispensaries I I understand that concern I am an Indian son my dad doesn't even drink chai he to him cannabis is a jailable offense no matter what the 60% of the Town says so I understand that I also understand it as a parent of two kids that you know I wouldn't want my kids to be addicted to anything I get that but I'm also a practical person I understand as a town there needs to be money coming in if we don't do dispares that's fine but we can still do other businesses in cannabis listen listen listen we have we have listen listen listen listen listen listen listen is destroyed you want destroy of order point point of order point of order please send to the council president please all right keep order I don't want to demonize cannabis I'm a healthc care professional I understand cannabis can be used for pain pain meds it can be used for anxiety it could be used for increasing appetite for cancer patients so if you're going to say that any cannabis is bad I don't age with you I do believe cannabis has a purpose so we can do business in it so which is very unfair for you to say hey I'm going to be insensitive to the person that's in pain I would rather have them being addict these people support sex sex changes but won't allow me to smoke marijuana in my town they support sex changes in this room Crystal Crystal please okay if they I'm allow to I don't believe in demonizing cannabis I believe there is a need and as a town we can serve that need we don't necessarily have to have dispensaries like many of the council members here said that there are other towns that can have dispensaries fine but we can grow we can have a we have dilapidated warehouses that are sitting empty that are not producing taxes for us residents if we can get those warehouses to open up a cultivation Center I'm not sure how this works out because I don't know the business of cannabis but what I'm saying is if we can use cannabis to increase our tax revenue at the same time help the benefits I think that is if I will be voting no on the Cannabis ordinance but I am open to another cannabis ordinance that does not necessarily open up dispensaries but it does do business in other SE sectors with cannabis if it helps the residents we have legalized cannabis we have legalized cannabis with 60% of the vote so the town's residents have spoken and I agree with the concerns but I think there's a practical compromise that can be made here and I think I'm open to that thank you council president Council vice president I just wanted to add one more thing I I completely buried the lead that I my intention is to vote no [Applause] tonight Council council president just point of order real quick go ahead quickly just wanted I and not saying the members of the council who said they're voting no it's obvious they're probably going to they're still going to vote now know but so people know more than a majority is voting no so maybe the coun maybe the comments from the public will be limited or they'll allow other people the courtesy to speak you got a lot of people to speak want everybody to speak just throwing it out there this is not moving it's it's gonna it's going to be voted down so all right Council so Council presid I just want to make one quick uh note okay Council M yeah thank you again thank you for considering me I want to thank the people who you know did the petition 5,000 plus you know it's awareness again I want to thank you thank you all right at this point we'll be opening it up to the public comments thank you come on up be oh sorry sorry we have a list B's number one anyways we're good uh sorry so under oral petitions remarks so you can come on up it's fine okay uh Bal Patel 11 Stanley place and I'm here in my personal capacity uh so council president um when this ordinance was brought up it was about adding locations not many people said that no Canabis people understand that that it was voted upon before 2 years or 3 years it was about adding locations near to the residential areas and that's what people were OPP was to when Council decided to bring this ordinance they did not seek stakeholder input when you have a party at your home outside in your neighborhood you check with your neighbors you go to the police department you close your road you have to close your road block you to get certain permissions what you did you did not check with the residents the people of the Town who voted for [Applause] you the same people of the Town moved to Edison or very in Edison from very beginning in this wonderful town that we live in for quality of life and the wonderful schools you disregarded you did not check with the Board of Education you disregarded the will of the people and you disregarded the Board of Education you did not check with one single School principal one single teacher one single staff member one single [Applause] parent there are so many Democratic and Republican committee members they are both being told that you guys are eyes and ears of the community not one was [Applause] consulted after the ordinance was put Democratic committee members Republican committee members as well as several members from the Board of Education or other bodies and these residents who voted for you approached Council and wrote several emails to express their opposition for days and days there was no response finally on Sunday a response from you came to several residents in email I still did not get your response by email by the way in my email I don't have it I check my SPAM folder today I did not have it that's okay that's fine many people posted it on WhatsApp and Facebook so I get it but yesterday Board of Education voted to send to council that we are opposing this ordinance on top of it the Board of Education created a ad hoc committee realizing that this issue tomorrow could get worse to tackle The Vaping and subst abuse crisis in our schools that is exactly called a seeking stakeholder input involve everyone involve the people who voted for you involve everyone be everyone is your family involve everyone about the committee I see it's yourself uh councilman poiner and U someone else right councilman brusher and councilman parel has fought has stayed with the residents and fought for this ordinance for 2 weeks and they were not part of the committee that's totally [Applause] unacceptable my my request my request here is to involve a greater stakeholder committee for future not only for this ordinance but everything it is democracy in the beginning of this meeting when there was a huge Ruckus over here and that everyone was expressing their opinion why did it take 15 to 20 minutes to settle down a guts our guts would be these people voted for you guts would be all right what do you guys want let's give it to them these people voted these are the residents these are the taxpayers let's give it to them it's for them you are a council member all of you are for them they are the ones who vote for you they are the ones who pay your taxes they are the ones who send the wonderful talent and wonderful kids to the Edison public schools which is our property [Music] values right so my request is in the future please please involve the stakeholders I have said enough about the stakeholders in my letter to the council in this speech and in several comments that I have made please involve people before making any major decisions and I really thank you thank you Mr pressure thank you Mr Coy and thank you vice president Harris and thank you Mr pel who have right now said to vote no thank you so much we are at such a relief we really appreciate your gesture thank [Applause] you uh Jerry Jerry and the other person behind you me some fine okay CU you're not going through the list because I no this is just for the at the end yeah Jerry she Edison um thank you council president for allowing all the people to come in this is people's Hall so we need them to be here uh to speak their opinions so Margo and thank you for voting know you were the school board member we work together when you are considering this ordinance please wear the school board hat on when you consider that Mr pointer I know your opinions but you're here to support the people I don't care what you think you want to do what the people's want Nish um you're one of the two members on the subcommittee you know your neighbor has one of the two licenses so I think it's wise for you to recuse yourself from the [Applause] committee for perceived conflict of interest I use the word perceived okay do the right thing recuse yourself all right and uh I just found out from the the social media that when the ordinance was introduced it was blank the actual location was blank until what is it 24 48 hours before the meeting so I just go back to bureau's point uh you need stakeholders feedback we knew when the first ordinance was passed was a lot of uh discussions and stuff why this one pushed in the last minute it's it's it's just really not the right thing to do so we have you know in the the township uh we have a a leaz on committee with the school board right so when we move forward with this I hope you that's a discussion that's a point uh the topic you discuss with the Schoolboard get their input before you move forward with this and also if it's possible include some of Schoolboard members or the other uh stakeholders in this committee not because just you guys you need feedback from the other people obviously you guys didn't do a good job that's why all these people are here to express their concerns so please next time get the feedback from the stakeholders that's a keyword Bureau use stakeholder stakeholder you guys work for them you guys are paid by them every one of you guys are getting paid because these guys [Applause] here some of you mentioned 600k uh revenue from Woodbridge I saw on a newspaper as well but do you have you ever one of you calculated back backward to see how much uh cannabis they need to sell in a day to get $600 $600,000 how much they have to sell in a day and how much foot traffic it is there's a limit of how much you can buy do the calculation before you actually introduce these these these uh uh locations okay again uh I thank you guys for not tbling this and uh voting no oners but I also have a question uh to the uh council president what is the process to reintroduce the ordinance if the ordinance is voted down so that's my so if the ordinance is voted down there wouldn't be a reintroduction of this ordinance it would simply be this regular process for introducing an ordinance which would require a first reading a a a notice period and then a second reading like we've done with this one so it just goes through the normal process again as a new ordinance not as a reintroduction of this or okay since you took my time and you know I just want a couple of seconds back um so um I'm not so when when you actually reintroduce whatever you guys try to do get the stakeholder feedback thank you very [Applause] [Music] much uh my name is Ray bino I've done in H middle six County a lot of years working with young people and I put uh 25 years in work in prison ministry in Middle six County workhouse so I've I've seen some things and uh it's very encouraging to see everybody here taking the stand they are I'm in agreement with them um and I just want to say just recently I just sent a friend some THC which is a derivative of cannabis uh because he's dealing with cancer and it will help him so I understand the medical benefits but you don't have to open up a dispensary in your town for people to get the medical [Music] [Applause] help and as far as the aspect of money is concerned let me just say this I'm gonna be very blunt and strong this is a big problem all throughout the country when politicians get in these positions and they want to raise money okay raising money by drugs not good raising money by prostitution not good when you when you take in money and it's throwing somebody else under the bus and hurting people down the road especially our young people you are prostituting yourself that's a [Applause] prostitution we are in a crisis in this country we've got a border that drugs is pouring in and who knows how many terrorists and town after town and city after City are fighting Marxist progressivism and where they want to keep legalizing drugs legalizing the things that are hurting people's lives so I think as a Town Council rather than well how can we pass this or how can we make this happen we need to figure out ways of how to clean up Edison so it's cleaner than any other town in the area now let me say that what good is cannabis going to do it's going to do a lot of bad what about the young people I see this as an attack on the young people because what these people said is here is true soon as you open up a dispensary people go in and they buy it what are they going to do what they buy they're going to buy a bunch of marijuana they're to go where the kids are hanging out hey look what I got listen I had nephews that he wanted to make a business selling trees he said it was a big thing in Buffalo and there's such a big drug problem there in so many other places it starts many times with pot that's what happens it's going to be it's going to affect the young [Applause] people so I I never knew a young person that started smoking pot and his parents came to me and said wow since Johnny's been smoking pot he's so much more obedient to me or how many people do you know that wow since I'm smoking pot I'm a better driver I have a friend that he told me he says you know when I was young I I smoked so much pot I says well you like it then right he says no I quit I say well why did you quit he said we had such great ideas I says and he said well we were too lazy to do anything we just wanted to sit around and get high it isn't any reason why years ago they used to call Pot dope because people that smoke a lot of it they do get Dopey and lazy and munchy I want to get get the munchies we don't need that we need to find things that help our young people pull up because if we don't we're going to lose our [Applause] country is it my time yet yeah okay I'm here to speak about I feel unsafe council president I feel unsafe can you please keep order point of order point of order please can we just uh cryistal you can continue please keep order I'm point of order I I don't want people to rush me from behind please please keep order let let me know we're ready for you let me know Marina when my clock start my clock started okay the ma majority of these people in this room have not lived in Edison as long as I have lived I don't think that is true Jerry the majority of them are not lifelong residents it does look like some of them came last week or maybe last year or three years ago Nick Fagan admitted I was here in Edison for three years he publicly came up here and admitted this um so I don't like how people can come here last week this this is a minority more people want Crystal can we stick to the ordinance these people I am lawyer lawyer I'm speak okay I am on topic okay I'm just for a clar can we stop Mr Christo's time for just okay just for clarification Mr Christo when you say that this is a minority you mean this is a minority of the residents of the township correct a minority of the people who don't want the marijuana I think the majority of the residents always wanted the marijuana that's what that's all I'm saying all right so where I live I went I bought a joint right before I came here and I bought it right on that border right next to Du Close Avenue in front of Fox Road we already have a pot shop in Edison basically it's holl it's an Edison so I I I really don't understand why all these other townships can generate Revenue but Edison can't generate Revenue um I don't understand why we're allowing this 1930s fake outrage this is an orchestrated event here the Board of Education people specifically Board of Ed member baral Patel all told them to come here with fake out rage in a WhatsApp group okay the these people talk about protecting the children okay but Ed New Jersey n police do not protect the children uh they protect child sex Predators when the time came to protect the children I protected the children this town protected sex Predators why why weren't they supporting me for exposing the sex spriters coming to town so this this whole notion that they're here to protect children is is false half of these people would support the children getting sex changes so I mean you know I I really don't understand that um marijuana is legal [Music] Okay so we we we already gave out a license how much time do I have left about 3 minutes about 3 minutes I I want to know why I want to know why these people who are are the minority in town a majority of the Town wants Cannabis stores this is a minority of the people who don't want it so because 100 people don't want it we're going to make the the 999,000 suffer that doesn't make any sense to me that that's certainly not democracy they're talking about democracy that's not democracy that's that's mob Rule and these people think they can come in here scream yell Toc violation they disrupted a public meeting today you never called them out of order you never had them thrown out and I'm just so that's why I came here I'm so disgusted by it I'm so disgusted at their behavior the way they're not allowing you to conduct your meeting I'm an Edison resident I want this meeting to go smoothly you understand I get removed for doing lawful activity point of order please maintain to the I will I will I'll go back to the wildness so how much time do I have left Marina if these people do not like Cannabis stores in Edison I suggest they can hop on a bus they can hop on a plane and they can move to another state you understand but here in the state of New Jersey we legalize cannabis you you can't you understand what I'm saying Council through the chair to councilman Co councilman Co you understand what I'm saying are you a Democrat or do you support the mob rule I can hear you the the the last time I came here okay the captain Todd incident happened and M BR happened from the very same people because I exposed BR point of order please be on the ordinance okay I'm disgusted at the way these people behaved okay um none of them care about protecting the children if if they care about democracy then then they would respect that here in the state of New Jersey we voted for cannabis they would respect that the majority of residents want Cannabis stores you understand I don't understand you can't fill even if you filled it up with 500 people it doesn't matter fill this up with 5,000 people it doesn't matter the majority still want the Cannabis stores and we always wanted since the 90s we wanted it like I said maybe not even 75% of this room was not here a lot of us have been waiting we've been fighting for the Cannabis stores in Edison I'm disgusted that we have people coming here from last week telling us what we can do in our own damn town all right I'm very disgusted by that and you can't even prove if if half the people in this room are even residents some of them could be from wridge they of order Crystal please stay stay to the topic please okay God Bless America God bless uh the Cannabis we want cannabis in this town I'm I'm I'm going to light this up I got a join I'm going to light it up okay I'm going to light this join up there's nothing anybody in this room can do thank you for your comments CHR um Anthony Dam and 25 Wy um council president I I I hear the argument um it will generate more Revenue I first of all i' like to know what makes anybody think that money will be spent more virtuously than than the money that we already give you through our taxes um I also wish that this much effort by the administration to put out an ordinance um and have something like this passed was put to towards things like cleaning up our roads uh putting more Patrol officers uh on the street uh making sure our town is safer um having subcommittees for for things like that um than doing subcommittees for cannabis it just tells you where our priorities are they're just so backwards um and and it's from the top down and I'm disappointed by the administration would put this much effort and knowing the feedback that that the administration's getting to not put their efforts towards the more important things that matter and it is it is absolutely it's absurd I'd also like to know where the administration is getting their facts I'd like for them to point to the point of history of a Township or any jurisdiction that cannabis has improved the quality of life for its residents and has brought the town uh prosperity and everything else point to the history point to where that H has happened where they are they are getting the administration is getting their ideas and facts from the sky they're pulling them out of thin air and they're putting this again effort in when they should be focusing on other things and I'll repeat myself such as cleaning up the roads our Township um and and making sure that our our town is uh uh safer um i' like to see more Patrol officers on the road as well um and having subcommittees for that so subcommittees for for cannabis it shouldn't even be honestly it it shouldn't even be the case um we should be focusing on more important things um and if you need money find Cuts somewhere find Cuts why don't we ever cut anywhere we don't ever cut and from any Department from any other thing we cut from the police department or we remove money $2 million from the police we've done that but we should be finding Cuts elsewhere I'm sure there's a lot of abuse a lot of U misspent money mismanagement of money um we should find it so um uh I I I appla this uh Council for for not uh tabling it uh hopefully voting no I don't believe it has happened yet I also want to commend the uh Board of Education tremendous job leading by example um and uh that's all for tonight thank you council president thank you [Applause] Anthony counc president just point of order this is not a line to speak anybody can raise their hand to speak it's your choice who you pick to speak yes that's want to make sure we're not forming a line people anybody can raise their hand to speak the council president can choose so if you're not in line that doesn't matter you can speak council president and council members thank you very much uh this is democracy so we respect all sides of the point of view but uh the people here really respect for uh passing the vote as no thank you very much for listening to the people uh that's the first thing and uh the second thing is um the residents uh uh started a grassroot movement and it started they wanted to spread the awareness of about the ordinance and it started a petition uh the petition is uh it was started it's a formal written request uh respectfully signed by more than 5,000 people thank you very much to the Grassroots campaign um and uh I just wanted to commend uh the efforts of uh two residents as well Nisha saent and Akil motra to be recognized because they t lessly spread the uh word about the AUD ordinance and educated regarding the petition through the chair to the to Madame clerk um please have the petition enter into the record and request to distribute to all the council members um we had to stay till the end and talk about this but then I wanted to talk about this right now because we are parents we want to go back home we have kids and we have you know um uh dinner to have we stay to topic of the Cannabis and the second thing is the this is a question uh from the residents uh for the subcommittee can we have other people to be represented um including uh committee people or the residents or should it be only Council elected people this is another question from a lot of people thank you so thank you and thank you so much for your time thank you an uh anyone can raise their hand I can pick anybody oh okay okay okay all right that's fine okay so uh quickly I'm going to I'm not going to use my all six minute or two minutes or three minutes but just quickly I'm going to say two things you name and address please sry my name May and address address 961 be Parkway okay uh one thing that you guys mentioned money and it's all about money right so the first question I'm going to ask is Council failed to innovate how to generate Revenue in a town and that's why we coming to this particular solution because wait I'll give you perfect example Bergen County promis 2019 highest collected sales stakes in entire United States of America 6 billion and they are not even in a junction of a many major arteries of the United New Jersey we are 287 GSP Turnpike and all other road we are connecting and we still fail to generate the revenue and that's why we talking about this small small Petty amount of doar we should be thinking higher how can we generate Revenue that is sustainable over the years for the future generation not just create the revenue now and let's make sure that this mess is there and then a future generation will solve now we talk about the cost yes you're going to generate the revenue by cannabis but think about that like other gentlemen mentioned that cannabis will come out of the store and goes to the kids now how much police force you going to put it in place to M manage those kind of incidents that underage kids are consuming or selling or buying cannabis that's a pressure on already pressured our police force third thing I think uh Mr John uh councilman he's not here he mentioned it's all about the demographic and everything if you talk about now in a Bergen count same example how many times the blue law has been uh the ordinance came to repeal that blue but the Democratic way the town decided not to repeal those law so why we don't have that option to repeal that we don't want cannabis in our town if you want democratic go Democratic this is the same example from the county that is just in New Jersey North and they generating Revenue but we not we have a better Vantage Point than them we have a better Community uh literacy rate is higher than Bergen County uh household income is in parallel with the Bergen County property tax higher than Bergen County in paramas area and we still don't have that opportunity to oppose or to have a voice or the most important our town or our counil or our town Administration is failed to innovate that how can we generate Revenue different way than this small way 6 billion guys think 6 billion without having many Junction point in a city Only GSP Route 17 and Route 4 we have a Turnpike we have we have a GSP we have a 287 we have 440 we are near to State on island and New York City we are near to the major airport and everything and we still can generate the revenue that's why we have to go to cannabis that's my question on you okay thank you council president point of order point of order the format has always been people raise their hand I'm just speaking for those who are sitting down who got here first that's fine they got here first sitting and we never formed a line before ever so those who are sitting down deserve to speak as well it's always been there's no list man there's no list I have the floor council president we've always had people raised their hand those sitting got here first how here first be consider for those who can't stand who may have a problem with their knees they have a problem with sitting they have to they have to speak it's only fair you guys came a little later you're not sitting down it's only fair they waited okay it's by raise of hand thank you thank you councilman Coyle uh the lawyer the legal council has a for a point clarication um I I heard it a number of times on Monday night just heard it again uh this issue of uh repealing the Cannabis ordinance entirely uh it's not permitted by State Statute okay so that if anyone else has that question if anyone else has that on their mind the state statute once cannabis is approved in a town that cannot be repealed for five years so at right now that is not even an option it is prohibited by the state statute to do so okay uh just so that everyone's aware of so no one has to ask that question so no one's misinformed name and address pleas deep motra 11 right Street Edison New Jersey are you recognized so you just uh said that so it's coming from the top and it's so despicable that paying so much taxes income tax real estate taxes you're still lacking money and then you going to cannabis just giving that argument that I we need money why we are losing revenue on wood bridges collecting ta taxes on the Cannabis you are being elected by these all gentlemen to keep our streets safe to keep our community safer not to destroy it our society and just spreading the Cannabis stores more stores just for the revenue we have already highest real estate taxes you still lacking money just because uh this is just you have to look for how to run the uh town it's very very despicable point that we all have to come here and request you not to have that can be still more open thank you thank [Applause] you just one alternating one person and the other [Music] okay name name and address please can 79 6 gr Edison um I'm here because of um two things the first one is about the Cannabis and um we were making a little bit of progress until the lawyer talked so what is going to happen is that it's possible that tonight this may go off when you people start stop coming it will singly come back and it may be voted upon and it may pass so this time around keep your eyes open keep your hair open be persistent and be here if not it's going to pass number two of it is that we have number one we've talked majorly for the Youth for the school children we've put put out what the principls are going uh going through the police and everybody we've given everybody an opportunity to know what is going on in the real world because sometimes when we sit in the position of authority we don't actually know what is going on in the streets so is as much as you cramp a a lot of things upon the residents this is part of the major problems the pot is good we can see it those product that we cannot see is what we parents are afraid of so tonight you may say no but the way it usually works is that we keep quiet about it the crowd go it comes back it pass so keep an eye out number two of it I have this opportunity I want to talk about CL you can about this is an opportunity because you still talk about the children president she's out of order it's on the ordinance for cannabis I know you will say I'm out of other because it has to do with you you live in that Community you don't do anything people waiting to talk about this ordinance I know we need we need a walkway in front of that property you are proving point of order thank you I appreciate you we need a walkway all right next it's a school premises she's out of order out of order couple PS and it was voted down by the way not all right name and address please my name is GOP sagur Avenue Edison New Jersey recogniz and uh Council it's I know it's been tough uh thank you for your patience but the bottom line is each one of the residents are passionate and are coming here out of their own interests and all the online Petition of 5,000 majority of them are Edison residents you have gotten hundreds of emails from Edison residents and the board overwhelmingly opposed Boe so again coming back to the point that earlier speaker made and in in lie of the time that we have today right uh uh we all are under the impression that it is going to put to vote and it is going to get voted down right regarding this ordinance uh that is one thing I would want to ask uh as a clarification taking the time into account that it has to be put to vote we saw all verbal NOS but it has to get to vote and it has to be voted down right and coming back to the same point we don't want any kind of this ordinance at all and at all in Edison right we we we are Edison Edison is we you know it's an American Dream for most people and nobody is Outsiders everybody are residents first generation immigrants who work there uh who are hardworking uh people who are contributing to the society right so everybody here is a valid and is a valid representation so the request on on behalf of the entire people uh here and the entire people who have voted in favor of the uh petition uh asking to oppose is get rid of this ordinance and we don't want drugs in Edison understood that you have an existing ordinance and there are businesses on Amboy Avenue please take this opportunity to revisit that look at those businesses you know if you want to continue do something that fine if you the again the public opinion is get rid of those as well in a most efficient way right that is a sincere request right so coming back to the macro things that I just touched upon right 2012 is when it started in colado and Washington right from what we hear they were in in a different situation you know the incarceration rates were high everybody was having it there were shorted staffed and then they said said okay let's legalize so that there is there it takes ease of law enforcement offices but taking that as an example and every state trying to go into Recreation marijuana legalization just doesn't cut it right we are at a Tipping Point where there are 24 States in this country that are legalized recreational marijuana and in 2019 to in an estimate at 2022 the estimate was 35 million pounds of Supply it's proven it's on record in print in that was a 2025 was 35 million uh pounds and in 2022 real estate actuals was 45 million of marijuana now where do you want to grow warehouses this why do you want to make I don't know are you is America going to be an exporter of marijuana is that where as a country we want to head it's something that you know the council should think about also on a macro scale while you do that right and the rational so there are there are 400 towns in New Jersey that have not not that have opted out 990 are only optin right some with only uh you know medical marijana so we opted in people didn't know they didn't realize some people didn't know they were thinking it was medical marijuana they didn't look at the ballot they voted 57% is abysmally low so all these factors is something that you need to keep into mind and I've heard arguments that generating revenue from cannibis sales to fight substant abuse that is the most absurd argument that I have heard from anybody right I'm I'm serious I'm sorry to say that but at justifying you're you're going to generate Revenue to fight a substant abuse uh it doesn't gel probably I'm me I came from a different world or everybody else came from a different world I don't know right so so don't get it legally right so you have a kid who who parents have uh money he's getting money as a pocket money or whatever it is to spend he starts going to buy legally God forbid he's he once he mot house his house he's not that affluent anymore he has to stand up on this but by that time he's addicted do you think he's going to go buy pot in the same high fancy stores or he's going to f go to a illegal Outlet to get the same pot please think about it nobody that's there's a proof in the pudding New York has 50 legal states 50 legal and there are 1500 illegal uh joints right and it's not about about coming back to our town it's not about North Jersey South North Edison South Edison South Edison is okay we'll have a joint in Route One let them know it's all about Edison it's not about demographics it's not about brown black or white it is about entire Edison everybody here is concerned about Edison is only concerned about Edison so please in respect of the time I think I have 30 or more seconds please make sure that you also cater to the time and get this onto a vote today and knock it out thank you so much just one second the council president has asked me to make a a point of the Parliamentary procedure here uh so that everyone's aware in order for the council to actually take the vote um which I believe it's been expressed that they intend to vote the ordinance down uh the public portion has to complete um so again I believe councilman Cole um made this point earlier uh the faster you get through what you have to say uh the faster you you you can make the point that you need to make or if you can rely on others to have made the point for you the sooner we'll get to the actual voting portion and you can see um how that that plays out otherwise we're we're just gonna have to keep keep running through we do appreciate your comments though good evening everyone I'm suit soen I I am Council um Committee Member for my District 62 I am from Remington Drive first I want to thank councilman pressure and councilman pel for their refusal for the vote for this illogical ordinance it is great to see some common sense which doesn't seem common among our other five councilmen to our other five Council Ms we shouldn't have to come here with a huge petition signed by many just to explain why having these shops in our neighborhood is a bad idea if you can't understand this without us having to spell it out maybe it's time for you to let someone else take your place and you [Applause] all and you all five should step down today I request you if if we residents have to come here to explain why these pot shops are illogical and not needed in the residential area you don't deserve to sit here I'm sorry it is confusing why we need to come here again I'm repeating because reason is Mr Brasher and Mr patle did explain gave very good arguments and said no Mr beel Patel thank you so much he also tried to do this before this ordinance started he also explained it but you did not listen to the Board of Education awesome then I want to come back to your email response to few residents you really think that 600,000 which Woodbridge collected how much did they they sell was it medical or was it recreational do you have any count second do you think that was appropriate answer to give to a resident that I'm opening a can cannabis pot shop because I want to get more money in and you did not care about what it will bring in the township second who picked the committee members it's you Mr Cole and the mayor is it legal like how do you guys pick the committee members why Board of Education was not there why none of the Committee Member was uh contacted that we are making a for this cannabis why do you guys want to come in and put your thoughts in why we were not called it is you one more council member and the mayor how good is that third cannabis is regulated by New Jersey by voting which was done and ped right it was voted not for residential area it was voted to legalize cannabis in New Jersey not to open this in the residential area just I'm making your reply clear and finally I want to say just like I said before like the military is protecting our country you seven are protecting our community you all should do your job well else you can step down my last as you said that you will bring the ordinance again right I would want to ask the resident if they agree with me or not every time this illogical ordinances will come each and every resident who's coming here for the meeting should be paid they should get because they are wasting their time here I came I had to take care of everything at home I have kids I have to get them to school tomorrow you guys should pay us for coming here because this is waste of our time next time if you're bringing this illogical ordinance take think before because next time you will need Auditorium thank [Applause] you my friends have said most of it name and address please uh himani Siti I'm from 56 do Drive um I am not going to repeat what my friends have already said earlier my only couple of questions and also clarifications you mentioned about um legalizing marijuana it was more people voted mainly for medical marijuana to be legalized opening up the new um uh cannabis plantations as you mentioned in the warehouses what do you think is going to happen is are we trying to convert into smell like Atlantic City please go there and visit how good that City smells we right now smell very well please do not even go go in that direction um and before you try to bring in any of those kinds of warehouses plantations and all of that please consult the residents around it's a very thickly densely populated area so please second medical marijuana oh sorry not medical marijuana marijuana part or any kind of um so mind altering drugs have proven to increase the illegal activities including guns and you know the problems that relate to it now that a lot of uh neighboring towns are legalizing and opening up the marijuana shops um next to the Edison B border are there plan any plans in order to increase the surveillance or protective activities in those areas south Edison maybe South Edison there are other areas P cadway borders the north harison so do we have anything in there protecting protecting the residents from the you know unnecessary shootouts that happen it is becoming very common in uh America right there right now and our schools have been blessed to have very very you know even though the Board of Education and the teachers may say that the kids are you know horrendous but compared to many many other towns you would see that our kids are very well behaved very well behaved very high achieving thanks to very minimal substance abuse here and also the discipline that is created by so-called you know we are all first generation the people who have been second or third generation here are also again following some kind of traditions so don't even go there my only question is are we taking any steps to not to have an increased illegal or criminal activity because our neighboring towns are legalizing marijuana my only concern is that thank [Applause] you so my name isami and your address 319 talok Road you're recognized so I'm an elected member of Edo District 42 as you guys like already told us you are ear and eyes of like your District we knock down like each and every door moreover lot of like in our residents they knocked my door last two weeks somewhat like you know our town we have a a big issue they talk about like in a cannabis I asked them like know you guys like a vter for like a 2021 say yes no one knew like know what is that I don't know like how this V is coming up now look at these people solid clear single voice say no that means no means lifelong no even if you do like know reintroduce like you know one more subcomittee you may see the same crowd double the size they come and say like no you guys are all smart Focus your energy in a more productive way don't waste your time if you reintroduce again we come and say we say the same agitation we say solid like no don't think about like this ordinance again never never thought about likeing in your mind Edison is not going to allow the resident is not going to allow we elected these Council people to make this environment is a healthy and drug free town you don't know like you know this cannabis it may come through our kids through gummies chocolate biscuits how do we protect them I know president you have a kids how do you go like protect them we are talking about like the demographic location Edison is like know everywhere like a Edison it's a south east west north all the residents are paying the tax we have to protect them it could be like you know far away you cannot compare like you know the other towns we cannot compare like an apple to Orange around our town we have like a cannabis shop we understand that but why do we want to do that if the people they want like you know to use it they can go and get it somewhere we have to product like our town is a healthy town and drug free Town that's what like we want to do it and you are talking about like you know a lot of the empty space we have to like bring like a lot of like a good business to generate the revenue you guys are all smart you don't know like how to generate the better revenue is a drug is the only route you can ask these people they are smart people ask their opinion they will tell you like the so much of business the legal business drug free business you can generate the revenue again I'm telling you guys don't bring the subcommittee or like you know the same ordinance like know reproduce again it is not good it is a waste of time it's a your time our time we are like all working people like you know we we all gather here to protect our community people are like not coming like not because of like you know they don't have the time they know like you know we are going to say like know one single clear voice no to cannabis don't bring it up again no more like know subcomittee no more like same kind of topic again in this kind of like Community all and again like we are respecting all this like know the the council people you have to respect like you know the the residents look at like a lot of people are like a standing why can't you like an arrange the seating we all work like for more than 8 hours again we are coming and standing here why can't you provide like the accommodation you guys are sitting like we are standing is it a way like you want to treat like our residents thank you aay so please understand don't bring again the same ordinance in any kind of a format we are saying no no no thank you Eliza F 2634 Edward Boulevard good evening Council I just wanted to noted that councilman pointer and Coyle have left and not heard the comments that we're about to say I agree with all the views presented by my fellow residents opposing canbus as a fellow pharmacist and Nish has now left as well I understand the medicinal value for the patients who are prescribed cannabis however I also understand that it is still a drug and it can still be abused on a federal level since cannabis is still an illegal drug it is a controlled substance Banks and credit card companies cannot work with dispensaries so this industry is strictly a cash business with this in mind we have to consider a huge negative aspect of bringing cannabis into Edison and I it's the potential for Crime you've touched upon it already with burglaries and thefts a proposed location at 2880 Woodbridge Avenue which is very close to the entrances for the turnpike Route 440 Route 1 that makes it a prime target for crime and burglary the air dispensary in Eaton toown was just burglarized on Memorial Day a large amount of cash was stolen from this dispensary do you want to put another Target in Edison for criminal activity we've already experienced a rash of car thefts and tire thefts my community had several cars stolen and vandalized and tires stolen myself included Edison has had a rise in catalytic converter thefts are we willingly going to add cannabis to that list of potential criminal activity willingly do we have enough manpower with Edison police department to handle this type of business I understand there extremely busy and they get tied up but sometimes when we call they are not on site if something happens at these businesses will there be enough manpower to handle it I wanted to share a piece of an article that I came across look around and you'll see news story after news story about dispensary theft at cannabis retailers in addition to making off with cannabis products worth hundreds of thousands of dollars these have held up delivery drivers robbed the customers as they walk out of their cars and even taken entire ATMs because again this is strictly cash on top of the financial losses these crimes can also be extremely dangerous the thieves are going to be armed and they've gained access to dispensaries by driving cars straight through them Washington cannabis businesses experience 67 armed robberies in the first few months of 2022 that's double the number committed during the previous year thieves Target dispensaries because all the cash on hand which makes them lucrative Targets in addition to the cash the product itself has a high street value and given that there's going to be no punishment in some states for selling marijuana illegally criminals are going to find they can make a living from stealing legal cannabis and then reselling it illegally on the street the light fines and prison sent business are not going to deter them so again is this the kind of business that you want in Edison a business that by law must have a security guard on site at all times when it's open means that there is an inherent danger associated with cannabis and speaking to you councilman Nish when you open an independent Pharmacy is it required for security guard to be on site is it a requirement this is a public portion we're not allowed to answer question that's fine I'm going to let you consider that it's not required it is required by law that you've passed for cannabis business so keep that in mind so from a law enforcement and crime standpoint from a health and safety standpoint is this the the best direction for the future of Edison do you want this business in a residential area which you're trying to propose but thank you for t for saying no and being within a th000 ft of schools dayc carees churches middle sex County College I hope not so please take this into consideration and when the time comes in 5 years in 2026 would you have the ability to repeal the ordinance that you pushed through in 2021 repeal it and just to be clear about you brought up Woodbridge Woodbridge was mandated to open that medical dispensary they did not choose to do it when the time came for them to choose whether they wanted to open additional establishments they said no we should say no as [Applause] well hello Nisha saan 23 Winson bian bouard recognized dear council president and council members I would like to thank everybody who supported the petition the parents who stood by the petition the senior Citi the businesses and the residents who joined this campaign I'm proud to stand here before you as a part of this huge grassroot campaign thank you Anita and thank you Akil we started this journey two years back with councilman brusher and councilman ptil when we came to know the Edison has opted in thank you councilman pel and councilman Brasher for your community support when we were asked the administration inform us the selection of the space in this going to be in the interior of the industrial park after that we did not hurt anything we need transparency today after 2 years we are standing here again at the Crossroad thinking Edison cannabis ordinary strategy when we started the petition campaign it was simple what did parents and residents feel about non-regulated cannabis with the areas inside Edison result are 5,000 plus of petition sign and we really thank you all the residents who took active role the number re one reason is repetition of the entire neighborhood where residents wants to live in a safe neighborhood and those who want to relocate into Edison will be damaged another fact is we always go for a walk at middle six County College which always say smoke free zone so what are we talking about second thing is it was surprising when I spoke to the to many residents about it's always a fine print no one reads in the ordinary which was B saying that this ordinance is about we want to rethink about the thousand square foot within the residential area I spoke to few people within your Council to some of them said they did not read the misprint they only came to know later that that's the reason initially they said they vote Yes and not no so my question is does everybody in the council now understands what did they vote for when they were we it was a very how could I say it was not that easy for all of us days and night when we knew only four five days are remaining and we have to get so many signatures we have to make people aware we left everything literally going to preschool and businesses churches everywhere and it was surprised that no one even knew about dis ordinance and even if they knew there were so many committee people who who supported I'm grateful but there were some who did not support had given wrong information which is not right as you said uh to council president you said yes you want to make Edison wants to make business money with this is there nothing else you can think about to make money we are wasting so much money in state of art stadium and whatever it is do you really does Edison really need this does South Edison really need this I don't think so I mean if you want to save money you have a lot of places where you can save money so so I really look forward for Council to say I mean there's no way of subcomittee or anything I really don't want any subcomittee we just want to say no means no we don't want to go through this whole thing again and if you say that okay 50 57 person voted for it when during covid time when everybody mind was in mess they didn't even know what they were doing so if you really you're looking at the words there then I would say you need to have a referendum again and ask the people now would they even vote for it no they will not vote for it thank you so much council president Nick Fagen 42 Ed you recognized thank you sir um I want to take the discussion maybe in a little bit different way I'm I'm in support of all the entire crowd and I think that this should be voted down but I want to make sure that the council knows that this is a land use issue right yes it uh it it is an ordinance to change our zoning ordinance which are also being considered in the master plan process currently but I also want to remind the council that we have come and talked about land use issues in this to the council and we've been told well we need the master plan to finish right we need the master plan to finish but in this particular ordinance this ordinance was passed unanimously I believe and I'm I'm sure the council member liaison to the planning board will correct me if I'm wrong but this recommendation referral to the planning board passed unanimously one week ago in this room on Wednesday last week that's incorrect is that incorrect a point of clarification please procedurally and please stop the gentleman's time planning board just so that people are aware is only whether is in compliance or incompliance with the master plan that is the only aspect to which the planning board acted on so I just want to make sure for clarification purposes that was mentioned I apologize thank you thank you uh councilman pointer the the the point is is that the planning board passed this ordinance and recommended it back to council that it was okay the and I won't I won't say his name because I think he's a decent guy but the the administration's planning board expt expert stated that this ordinance was substantially consistent with the Edison's master plan think about that this what we're talking about what the residents have talked to you about all night the experts said that it's substantially consistent with our master plan there's something seriously wrong then with our master plan and so I would urge you to vote no because of everything you say you've heard from the residents tonight but I would also ask the residents to make sure that they're attending Master planning meetings with the zon or with the planning board because the planning board plan currently says that this is a good thing and it's consistent with the master plan if you want it not to be consistent with the master plan you got to go to those meetings and tell the planning board who is appointed by the mayor by the way that they you don't want this to happen thank you thank you Nick [Applause] name and address please mul sha uh telra Addison uh 08820 you recognized thank you uh thank you council member team members here uh this is a tiring long meeting for you guys I totally understand and thank you for your patience thank you people here for keeping your eyes and ears open thank you security guys I really appreciate our security guys for your support and all of you uh all our fellow residents has talked lot about macros microeconomics Securities uh criminologies everything so I will not go over that again thank you Board of Education Without You it is not possible thank you I'm just stood up here for a couple of points that I heard and I feel that I I understood it correct some council member I don't want to name it but say that 08817 has no representation and it has land into 08817 council members we are here for entire Edison not north south even there is no representation think about entire Edison entire border thank you another Point irrespective of demographics we need to understand the impact the true impact of this business just don't think from the business point of you we all are professionals many of you are entrepreneurs here you know it better how to get your Revenue I was talking with my teenager daughters one is in high school one is in first year for college and when they came to know about this they were shocked and what I heard from my my kids that many of the teenagers in Addison already getting marijuana and all these things although it's not legal do you believe that your kids whatever you are opening here will not reach to your kids it will remain outside of your borders one day it will come down into your house for all the people including Securities all the people and all the council members I can see by your heart you feel that is not right but you need revenue and if at I am putting my uh s in your shoes definitely I can think of Revenue I would really suggest you open and and there is a genuine suggestion from this resident open a survey to a college and school kids they are super smart they are super smart they will give you lot of entrepreneurs ideas to open up not only is 600,000 Revenue but 6 billion of revenues when you are talking about 600,000 just consider number of people in Addison just divide by it simple math how many dollars per resident you are trying to earn just only 600,000 guys think big dream big this is very small dream honestly think big and please please please don't bring this from back end or back door entry and even if you think about that put your hand on your heart before even thinking on that are you on the right path listen to your heart and not your mind thank [Applause] you yeah come on up hi good evening uh Amita bunel 19 hstone Drive uh I had few clarifying questions is it possible to ask and one of them is the council said that they will vote no on it how soon can they reintroduce it can they reintroduce it tomorrow or is there some sort of a n it Tak so is it like some sort of a cool down period like 90 days or two 3 months whatever it is before you can reintroduce it once you're done we'll answer that okay and the reason that I'm asking is that I've been a resident of this town for 17 years and this is the first time that I'm coming to a council meeting okay I've never thought the need to come but uh the issue was such that I had to come the second is that uh Township attorney said that it cannot be uh put to a referendum before 5 years so is it that only in 2026 that we can put it through a Township referendum uh I believe that's the case okay thank you and uh the third thing is uh that I was just looking through it uh uh some of these problems uh you can call it problem or you can call it whatever that is your prerogative how you want to look at it uh but uh have we done any study in terms of the at one end what is the revenue that the town is getting versus what is the cost that it has to pay in terms of uh medical cost or mental health cost or the police officers these are the ones who will be seeing the Carnage of of high drug or with accidents with burglary with uh uh thefts with shootouts with accidents Road accidents have we taken the consideration of our men and or wom in uniform in terms of how they are going to deal with it in terms of when you bring this uh uh cannabis to the town so these were the three things that I just wanted to ask thank you thank you so you respond to the first be after all the public comments because everyone's waiting thank you just take two minutes uh name and address please and this is ji 45 Karen uh thank you councilman and my fellow citizens they have expressed their opinion already they spoke my mind I'm not repeating all those things I'm a resident of Edison over three and a half decades I'm proud of Edison and I tell everybody that I live in Edison and Edison has great school system my daughter went through and my grandkids are attending the Edison schools they are A+ students I'm proud of them when I heard about this ordinance two weeks ago I was shocked and I felt very low and I started to question my own intellect and my fellow citizens intellect for electing you and putting the place in you in these seats did we do right thing do they have right mind to even bring out this uh bring up this ordinance this is not right elections are coming again we need to rethink use our minds use our brains and do right thing before making any decision before making any decision think about your own kids your own family you won't realize until it hits your family think tomorrow your son coming home with Dad I like this try this or your family get hit by a high hyper guy who had the marijuana hike and driving and hit one of your family members how do you feel think about that before going to bed tonight thank thank you very [Applause] much uh yes councilman Co council president can we consider voting this down now and getting this over with these people want this to vote down now that's what they want if you guys are all in favor point Sorry point point of procedure uh as I explained earlier we have to finish the public comment portion of it we can't cut off any of the residents but if if no one else has anything to say we could move to a vote if the people still standing line want to speak we have to let them speak Mr Co okay sorry council president good evening everybody tun maheswari 102 Delwood Road you recognized so I'm here to keep it short and simple just I I wanted to talk talk on two uh topics that the council members brought up the medical benefits and the revenue generation the very basic thing that I'm seeing here right now is that if the council had its act together these resident wouldn't have been here every time and they would have been in a restaurant or watching movie generating revenue for the township so that there is a loss of revenue for the township okay next I'm thinking um just throwing out ideas here that we have an idea where we can kill two birds with one stone right now Council chairman talked about medical benefits of marijuana or cannabis right have you looked into medical benefits of yoga aurvedic herbal practice or a healthy lifestyle right so if we look into maybe we open a yoga studio right we generate Revenue we have uh healthy we generate Revenue we open herbal Studios we open private paid recreational centers where people can go paid membership and have a healthy lifestyle right so we don't have to reach to a stage where we need cannabies uh medical benefits of cannabies to be implemented right so if we go with these basic ideas I think we don't have to think about generation of Revenue through cannabis that's all my point is so again no committee please vote it down don't bring it again we want to go home we want to generate Revenue through watching movies in movie theater going to restaurants and eat instead of struggling for cannabis thank [Applause] you uh sakeet goil 1725 raspberry Court pretty much everybody has covered everything so I'll keep it short and simple I'm pretty sure all of you have heard in news like what is happening in New York City even dogs are getting high okay everybody knows it okay I was talking to my friend this morning whom I work with he goes he lives at Thomas River right Thomas River he goes I go in a mall it stinks okay so all right forget about legal or illegal okay one once they are sold they are sold have you guys thought about what's going to happen after they use it are you going to put a police officer at every uh trash can to make sure they're disposing correctly when our kids are going to walk by the streets are you going to tell them oh don't smell that sweetheart that's not good for you how are you going to explain to an elementary kid that marijana this we a pot you can't inhale that once it's discarded on the street do you have any plan for this have you thought about this obviously if someone wants it they can just drive by and take it all right so after five years when it comes back again water it down repeal it scrap it that's it thank [Applause] you good evening everybody my name is ramj Sunshine Lane in Edison I've been in Edison resident for about 25 years usually I have my dinner at about 7:45 somebody said we should provide a chair I would actually add a dinner to that next time and I'm a I'm a vegetarian maybe we can take a oot on how many veg and how many non-w meals all right and reason is very simple so no subcommittee please vote it down number one and think it from a business point of view M nishit Patel said it is going to generate some kind of Revenue imagine sending it to somebody who really needs it sell it through Costco and Walmart Pharmacy so as simple as that we have beautiful Costco they take a return facility also so sell it through them number one and look at look at the revenue we generate from the property taxes I tell my clients in Delaware and Pennsylvania I pay about 12 to $15,000 in proper property tax and one of them said that is my mortgage and my property tax is probably about $2 or $3,000 if you bring it tomorrow so all the people from Edison will leave and then go to some other good towns and the school district is going to be empty and you will have a lot of Po pot shops and you will not have people to go and then pay your property tax so that will make your that will that will make it bankrupt so you don't want a situation look from business point of view somebody said about a Yoga Center which is a wonderful thing and look just from a business point of view you have a lovely School District produces wonderful kids and uh you generate a lot of money in property taxes someone told me today afternoon they said yeah I bought this place I paid $400,000 I did a construction so $300,000 I asked him what was the property tax when you bought at 400k he said it was $9,000 and then when it is 7 00,000 the property tax became a $16,000 so the township got the money because he actually developed his own property so just think from those angle you will not actually try to bring any of these things that is very cheap as somebody said think big so maybe if you want to bring in more value people will be able to pay more property taxes as long as there is going to be a value so it is about cost versus value what you give so think big and I'm sure you will be able to gener more Revenue but but not by selling part thank you and keep the Dina suggestion in mind thank you thank you right now name and address good good evening everybody Ben from Ed New Jersey Council president do I have the floor yes you do thank you very much I understand that to the body to the audience I understand that look I I I think we had to talk about this Mr brusher and with my boss andj smoke Club was here on Monday I couldn't tend cuz I had a lot of stuff to do the marke the marketing is I want to show you guys um a big update about cannabis sales about 800 million like million 800 million in cannabis sales in 2023 okay um last year the state clocked in a record of 1991. n million revenue between October and December last year for the fourth quarter of 2023 the CRC reported 8% increase from the that people uh like the Cannabis and they don't like the Cannabis well I am a medical cannabis medical I had it since last year I'll show a picture of it my crazy look you this is my medical card I need this because I I suffer from anxiety depression and a lot of other stuff as well and this plant right here because I already showed it to the officer mind you if if I had this if I had this seven years ago eight years ago you guys will be locking me up like there was no tomorrow this saves people's lives guys seriously look at the revenue look at and if we can if we can find a way I am medical prescribed as well if we can find a way to to make money from this and do a tax break because look what the the governor was doing with the homeowners you know with the anchor if we get something like that Edison would make money all I'm here oh Edison is is is broken down they don't have money we're all poor okay this will say this will make money for the for the for the township not just the township but middle County and the state of New Jersey as well we I knew this we will be having this talk I had a feeling we'll be having this talk for like three years when they just introduced this and now three years later we're finally talking about I I personally what we should do is we should just have a vote a special vote for November let the residents decide if we want it or not we are the light of Edison New Jersey ladies and gentlemen all right they they only agree if unless you agree if they point of order he's got to speak put micone back in there and speak everybody if they agree they agree if you don't dis if you don't agree they will will agree with you know I feel like we need a special vote we should have a a special vote for November but if you can't make a decision postpone it until you make a decision that is the right thing to do because Congress look what's going on we're going to be having a government we're going to be having a government shutdown we're going to be having a shut and guess guess who gets gets affected the marijuana the industries the business because that's coming from the state from the federal postpones it postpones this vote on this on November let the people decide thank you God bless you and God bless the great state of Edis New Jersey thank you thank you all it's all good [Music] next hi uh this is 30 Drive uh a lot of members talked about uh lot of benefits and drawbacks and like why we want it why we don't want it I'm not going to repeat any of those points I'm just going to make two or three points the first is the manner in which this ordinance was introduced and conducted it is more like taken for granted attitude and it was basically a ordinance of this type which has a longlasting community impact I think it should have been really thought through deeply and it should have been really uh considered like you know all the conversation what we are having right now it should have happened six months back allowed everybody to voice their opinions concerns think about the risk consequences what would happen five years down the line not immediately four months and 6 months and I really don't think that that was really like you know taken it was taken too casually to so so to speak right if none of us would have shown over here probably it would have just slipped through right that's one thing second one like like you know uh so that's like we're not talking about like 57% or any of the wordss and like know zip code ZIP code is something another one I want to definitely talked and I picked up that point I represent 08817 zip code and I realized that there is no representation in this committee for the zip code and that's really shocking to me so now with this particular conduct which I observed in this meeting I don't know what else probably other decisions which are happening here whether I should be present in every meeting because you know we are also like busy in our day-to-day jobs and should I leave everything and should I trust you guys to do that and take those decisions that's second thing and third one actually I wanted to see like you know you guys are talking about uh reconsidering that itself is like you know it's politically sugar CED you should really should not even reconsider it I don't see I don't know what is the what is the like know legal way in which this should not be introduced again what are the ways in which like why why do you reconsider and and like you think about that then there are medical consequences but there are other avenues in which it can be obtained medically with the current uh Outlets or Avenues what we have I don't think we really require I don't think that outlet is over over subscribed and people are lining out there for two hours and three hours to get medical Marion or whatever it is so we really don't need to think about that overall I would say that uh the due diligence was not done for the for the ordinance of this size any impact why are we doing this and uh and that something really really like know uh concerned uh the last and important point is actually we have signatures uh like know collected from the the citizens here and we would like to go on that record with the county clerk the clerk over here and that needs to be passed to the council members Nisha if you can pass that that would be really help all right I think that's basically like uh I want to talk about I'm not going to talk about benefits drawbacks everybody has talken uh spoken for that most important the overall uh taken for granted approach was really really like know very disappointing and that's something we should not really do that again and another thing and this is my first meeting by the way like even I'm probably uh resident of Edison since 2009 here but uh what I realized that like you know when I'm looking at this agenda I really don't get anything from this somebody's reading some Greek codes over here two lines and I don't even know what this is for what is the consequences who has considered any benefits any risk any drawbacks about it and whether we should see yes or no I I learned recently from aay um in the resar that okay there's 15 days before something happen and all that but like know transparen is there that would be really really helpful thank you very much thank you council president I I just want to mention I live in 0817 so I I I represent 08817 if anybody wants to speak with me be more than happy to speak after the meeting all right dur Shar address three Elm Road you recognize so as I come here I was thinking which points I bring up and which I don't because there have lot of them have been repeated I don't think I will have any new points okay but then I'm thinking maybe if I make everyone here wait for one more minute the next time you want to introduce it that one minute of extra pain may stop you from getting us B back here there is a second aspect to that I'll go back to that at the end okay another thing that was brought up here is the language of how this comes up right even this the planning board Etc I am reading this I don't follow it and it's not easily accessible I did not know about it until just a few days ago Mr gopy over there brought me hey do you know what is happening here okay so in that respect what can we do we talked about transparency earlier putting my home's home plan publicly so some thief can see it and when he comes in he can sneak in he knows where which room is uh you got to stay on topic sir what can we do here to introduce the transparency whatever ordinance we are introducing it has to be on cannabis I'm talking about this ordinance okay what can we do about this ordinance so it's more English and make it transparent make it easily available so that's my question what can you do second we all said about illegal availability of this what are we doing to stop that that's my second question uh third I have heard that I mentioned a few times north south Z8 it doesn't matter this is all Edison let's do it for Edison I'm an Edison resident I am paying for taxes for the township of Edison not for this or that entire Edison okay okay one more thing address to the rest of the group the second part of what I said before I'm making you everyone of you wait here for one extra minute I'm doing the same thing for everyone here and that extra one minute of pain if everyone can remember the next time election comes up get out and vote please and my last Point uh oh two more the person in red jacket I appreciate the pain let's not make money off of them some people need that medical marijuana and they need it we will not try to make money off of it I don't want that they are in pain they need it I don't want to make money off of it okay my last one the Marana whatever it gives a high I'm sure everyone here doesn't like the high the high comes from dopamine I love that high not from this from the sports sports give the same high and everyone here will join so we will get revenue from that yeah we need can I get a motion to extend the council meeting thank motion to extend seconded motion to extend to 11 by Council vice president and seconded by councilman pel can I get a roll call council member rusher yes council member Co yes council member Harris yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member shamal yes council president pel yes okay thank you uh councilman and all the leaders uh my name is vas readyy jambula for wi and bean beliard Edison you're recognized um I'm also opposing the ordinance for cannabis and second thing uh s Jin is our quotation so we can say that everything everyone should be happy so in this room if you say take the oting or anything 99% are opposing one or 2% maybe you can consider when you're coming for the next elections uh one thing when you are coming to our uh Community Center sir we are welcoming like water some snacks are there when we came here to here spending more time here and the last 4 hours no water for us so I'm not talking about so respect each uh mutually that's what I'm requesting so next time when people are coming so we are giving our valuable time I canceled my two three meetings in the evening so revenu everything if you want if you want taxes you can raise the 2% or whatever percentage we can pay so I'm telling cannabis is more danger if you want taxes that is another matter another T contest but please cancel the ordinance for canvas and thank you all the leaders and today all the members signed signatures personally uh written signatures online signature whatever we want we can do that for you guys we want to see again you otherwise if you passing the ordinance Bill our guys will come to the your seats thank you thank [Applause] you Joy sh Freeman address please address well I'm I'm going to tell y'all the differ what when you said 57% 67% people voted for cannabis no they didn't vote for cannabis they voted for the decriminalization of cannabis all [Applause] right but there was a lot of young people who smoked one joint and went to jail for 10 years with a bunch of murderers so that's why they voted councilman BR tell you because you have excuse me excuse me I have the floor I have the floor and I know what I'm talking about cuz I'm from the black community so don't you tell me voted for cannabis excuse me listen he don't know what he talking about I know what I'm talking about cuz I'm from the community we will have order we will have order she is recognized so we voted for criminalization we not vote for pot shot and all that because if we voted for that same people that came out of prison they should be the ones getting paid for all their 10 years and everything they spent in prison and for them not being able to go to college and finish that because of one joint that they had and that's what the people were voting for decriminalization they were not voting for pot shots they were not voting for all this extra stuff these candy these gummies all this stuff okay and the reason why they felt that way was because when the OPI crisis came about everybody treated that differently all right so people who have children who in danger because some other kid gave them a pot or either a lollipop or a gummy bear or something like that I know most of you young people because you don't know the history and the other person that's cutting in on me he doesn't know the history see I am the history I know during the 80s I know when everybody went to jail okay so don't so tell me what I don't know you can read what you want to read but I was there AI can't tell me I know what happened so decriminalization of that was just to allow those people to get their re their expunge so that they could enjoy a life and go to college and have a better life for themselves no none of this stuff about all these pot shots and oh we gonna make all this great money please please I'm an educator and they told us the same story about about the lotteries okay and your school taxes are not any lower so that was just a joke so this other thing you think we making a quarter million dollars or something like that stop spending like a drunken Sailors stop spending like that okay it's inflation right now why are you rushing spending money during inflation why don't you wait till it cools off you don't have to do everything in one day I'm sick of us spending the way we spend it we're spending crazily we're not taking care of the things we need to take care and so we all of a sudden want to get a pot Supermarket so okay everybody come in and everybody buy pot so we already have problems in the neighborhoods of people stealing catalytic converters of people knocking on doors they telling you watch out for the scams oh oh then we want more people walking through the neighborhood high and and and ridden with pot come on y'all you can do better than this I expect more from you C Pres we can get on with a votee and vote this down no oh I'm sorry I hi R thank you I want to thank all of you today for coming here and uh especially the residents who not slept for days trying to get this done and I also want to say that next time you want to pass ordinance put it on the ballot take a vote saves all this and regarding any uh business establishments that you're looking for my suggestion would be like maybe have like there's so much talent in our community have something like a table tennis uh classes make a make a uh make a place for that javelin throw we have maybe we have some olympiads here we don't know let's go for that so that's that's that's all I have to say and please vote no never to come back back thank you council president motion to close the public portion to vote on this uh do I do I have anybody that wants to speak okay we still have someone that wants to speak okay no problem hi uh my name is Akil motra 6 iway Edison you recognized yes uh I just want to uh say for first thing Mr Asif you said I'm representing 08817 but you didn't said a single thing against cannabis which is a very shameful and which is very disturbing and dangerous for the resident on the 08817 ZIP code [Applause] site another thing is we talk about revenues revenues revenues everyone saying oh we need to generate 500k we literally spent 12.5 million on what Silver Lake property which is a contaminated land a contaminated land we pay a millions of dollars but now we are talking about hundreds of thousands dollars this is the body who who approv that kind of uh purchase but we are now looking to uh for a revenue of 500k just because we we were like so much drunk that time that we everyone voted yes yes yes and that was only for one district and now you are throwing out everyone 74 districts in total and create a chaos in the whole North Edison shame on everyone especially shame on the one who said yes to bring this oddness two weeks back and now when everyone come up from the from the township you get scared and then you flip your votes if you are if you are strong enough then you should be standing on your ground rather than just changing your V like like this m Mr poer you should not be appointed to any subcommittee of [Applause] cannabis and you should know it already why because you are a very strong supporter maybe you are also consuming cannabis so we have very high doubt that you're going to do good for us that's out of order sir you got to stay on you can talk about the ordinance but you can't attack but you can talk about the you propose a subcommittee right I'm talking about subcommittee no sir you're making personal attacks in your opinion what you believe to be attacks against members of the council I'm going to suggest that temper your speech continue on with what you have to say so that everyone can hear it what you have to say is very important but you've got to make sure that you do it in a respectful manner thank you all right okay so next point is I have a couple questions so we said like we going to be bringing cannabis right so so first question is how how much is our police force right equipped with uh anything dealing with the Cannabis related issues as per my understanding the whole New Jersey police like looking at it like only less than 5% is equipped to uh sort out those cannabis related matters how about Addison are we ready yet I don't think so did we check with Addison Police Department about those cannabis things how many accidents are happening because of Canabis did anyone check on it how many how many um crimes are happening related to cannabis or how many like domestic violence are happening related to cannabis did anyone check on it did anyone has any record I I don't think so how about the master plan we are spending half a million on master plan right did anyone ask like what exactly we going to do with that cannabis thing where we going to put those cannabis Center we have only one person Mr Nick he rais a very fair point but how about you guys we send it to planning board and then they just stamp it like a rubber stamp guys they did nothing they didn't want to say anything how about those guys what are we doing about that we spent half a million we spent half a million and you are trying to bring in half a million if we don't even do that master plan which is a sham adding zero value to Addison so far we could have easily saved those money we don't even need cannabis last thing is did we have any policy regarding cannabis if my neighbor is smoking weed right and it's impacting my my my privacy or like my kids are inhaling those what did we ever build anything rules or regulation can I call cops because it's impacting my my kids did we ever think about it did we ever discuss with police no right there's lot of homework to done and Mr Jo I know you want to go home but that's yeah that's sorry about I want to vot down busy ready to vote it down yeah and we will keep remember that you are the only one who said yes to table and I agree we should have tabled it and we would have been out of here by now it's going to never be vote Yes so it's my opinion I have the right to my opinion and and I'm here okay we we will see you next year when we have our next there's no talk there's no talking back and forth thank [Applause] you good evening how you doing council president uh name and address please uh Keithan uh Daniel's law I'm a retired police officer I don't have to give you my [Applause] [Music] address first I just want to thank all the residents that are still here after 10 o'clock and all the residents that came earlier to speak against this ordinance I haven't seen this many people at a council meeting since George pedoro bought the Oak Tree Pond for six million dollar uh second I just want to address when councilwoman Joyce ship Freeman was up here whether you agree with what she's saying or whether you don't agree with what she's saying she served for four years on this Council top and for you as the council president and for you as the council president to get up and walk out of this room while she's talking is the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen in these here Council chair thank you thank [Applause] you next time don't go to the bathroom I know I can't use the bathroom uh anyone else that wants to speak before we vote to take vote on this all right can I have a motion to close the public portion motion to close the public portion second a motion from councilman Coy second by councilman ptil may I get a roll call uh motion to uh can I get moot for this ordinance all in favor say I motion motion to approve we can I get a can I get a motion on this ordinance to a motion to vote no on this ordinance [Applause] second council president are here to motion to vote on this ordinance yes secondly Point unification clear that even we do the motion to approve and council members are making sure that they understand what it means and they vot by voting no on this you're not approving this ordinance just and that was motion by councilman Coy second by councilman Patel Just a point of clarification that just so everyone knows the the motion is to approve technically I just want to make sure that that's there's no confusion back and forth motion is to approve and a second motion how difficult is that all right may I get a roll call Madam clerk council member Brasher no council member Coyle no council member Harris no Namaste council member p no member pointer no council member chal no council president Patel [Applause] no the motion [Applause] fails I'm going to ask for a recess for the council may I get a motion for all right can may I get a second all right I have recess 10- minute recess by motion by councilman Patel second by Co 10 10 all in favor don't this back please we really don't want this ordinance please TV be right all right everybody please sit down we're getting the meeting back in order meting president you have the floor we're missing a couple of uh counil people thank you Mr chist we're aware we're we're trying to figure out where everyone's going we're meting waiting for two more right three more just walk one second yes yes they ditched you they ditched you guys they is awesome AJ see this here counc president two three four the meeting is back in session at 10:24 all right so now we're going to open it up to the public comments on the resolution anybody wants to make a comment on the resolutions that have you proposed uh my repeated question are about the uh water overpayments I asked about it every meeting every meeting is a water over payment so I just like to have an answer about that and on that's that's r81 that's right I gota put the numbers up r81 r86 uh the professionals that the mayor is allowed to hire every 90 days uh can I get um can I get that ordinance to let me you know so I can prove that you know that's true I need that for r86 and I'm going asking about the streets contracts and with the streets cont uh whoever you have this for are they taking care of drainage at the same time they're doing that because it seems to be a drainage problem and it seems to be like they're just slapping it up and throwing the streets together because people are complaining about their streets next one that that's 88 okay now r97 have we redone the tree bond for our regular uh residents and 101 is why are we're going out of our way racing like crazy to finish everything during inflation okay so I hope you answer them because the other senior citizens that were sitting here say you never answer questions council president so they said they're very disappointed in that do you want me to have Sonia answer your questions now yes I want the questions answer that's can you answer the questions if uh councilwoman ship Freeman could clarify her water payment question specifically to I ask you every week what is the problem that we're having this problem in the water department that we're having overpayments every month how hard is that to understand I read over it and said it's some kind of discrepancy and I just want to know what is the discrepancy that we keep having these water over payments what what's going on in the water department pleas tie into reconciling water meter ratings the other question with regard to the what did you say contract it has to do with meter readers reconciling okay and then your other question that I may answer council president is the streets contract uh Council what about r86 r86 first can I see the ordinance about the uh professionals that the mayor is allowed to hire every 90 days and you know without the consent of the council as you know the clerk could provide you with the ordinance also online through ecode thank you very much I'll get that from did the clerk he that that she's respons responsible to get me that thank you and then about the streets and the contracts and are are they doing the proper drainage and stuff because people are having a problem with their streets like been slopped up and thrown together and not having the ability to uh have proper drainage is this being done through this contract the contract is for Road improvements and depending on the street once engineering reviews it there may be some drain dra AG issues addressed is there a specific Street you're looking to get drainage addressed but they don't have to actually do the drainage I'm not sure what your question is it is part of the question is is while they're repairing the streets if there are drainage problems do they have to do to take care of that they certainly do council president yeah there's no back and forth sorry just address the questions to me and she keep asking asking me the question to repeat it to her over and over again I'm not the back and forth she's the back here M Miss she Freeman um you keep interrupting her as she's speaking and that's creating issue interrupting her please you just interrupted me the same way that you've been excuse me sir that's not correct she keeps asking me over and over again what I'm to clarify it okay so stop lying letting her finish speaking point of order I'm saying stop lying because she's asking me over and she's asking me could I please clarify what I'm saying question your business I'm on on r97 okay have we have we changed uh have we done a tree bond for our regular uh residents have we changed the ordinance for them like we did for the developers I believe that's with the council as part of one of their discussions so I would defer to the council all right thank you and and last but not least why I see I think that's 101 why are we racing to do and spending money like crazy during inflation to try to do everything at one time I think one of one is rejecting the old the bids so we're not really spending money we're just rejecting the bids okay we just reject you're rejecting all the bids for the building because I they're coming in too high uh I can have Sonia answer as to why we are rejecting the bids for the sports building sure so this is not for the build of the sports building this is for the construction management of the building and as I had mentioned on Monday we are going to do that inhouse and we feel comfortable to do that inhouse okay thank you thank you thank you anyone else on the resolutions uh seeing none motion to close the public portion on the resolutions only uh okay you have a question come on up so again name and address maybe it's a my name is gopali sagur Avenue Edison okay and what's the which resolution you I don't know it's the first time I'm seeing this the me so I'll just it's it's R 98 99 Etc so all there are some refunds I'm just a generic question and would the refund not have an amount next to it I'm sorry what's the question the would the refunds have an amount next to it uh Sonia it is in the resolution council president if I yeah see go ahead you can give them the amount pull it up just give me one second please do do you need those numbers council president could the clerk could the clerk provide that resolution she may as well um sir if you look if you look at that book over there they have more detailed explanation as to what each of the ones that any questions you have there should be more details in there in that in that binder in the binder onl oh the and it's also available online okay okay and okay any question so if there is any like contract purchase for anything would there be a time like if you have uh I'm just asking if Industrial Supplies in janitorial supplies depends on I mean on the high level would it be like a period of time or it's your question is what's the process for the Contracting no no it's not the process which which number are you specifically talking to Second uh r18 R 108 I'm just looking at it and if it if I see a number how do at this number would it not be prudent to have that the contract whatever is being awarded is for this time period like there's nothing here like there is a blanket statement of x amount of dollars it's already yeah that all been there all right thank you thank you anyone else with the question or comments all right none uh may I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close the public portion second all right motion by councilman Coyle second by councilman pointer uh all in flavor all all right uh moving back to here all right anybody would wants to pull anything for a separate vote uh yes uh council president 87 88 and 113 I'm sorry 78 uh 87 uhuh 88 and 113 87 8 8 and 113 anybody else all right seeing none uh can I get a motion to adopt the consent agenda which will be 77 r77 to r86 r89 to R12 and R14 to 15 R14 to R 115 motion to approve the conscent agenda a motion from coun councilman PTO can I get a second second second by councilman pointer may I get a roll call council member prer yes council member Co yes council member Harris council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schmel yes council president Patel yes and councilman Brer uh do you want to put them all in on or separate if we do them separate separately okay let's start with the 87 okay 87 um um um 87 I'm going to protest um I I need a iPad and a iPhone being that I I've struggled for two years with that Sinker that I was given and the last time right and they did and it did work Sonia I will tell you I mean I'm it does work when I leave there but a couple weeks later it just doesn't work but everybody else that has like these iPads and stuff they seem to not struggle so I'm requesting an iPad net and until I get it I'm going to vote no on this one just so you know this is specifically to the Microsoft Office I know but it said Microsoft so that's why I just picked that one I understand so I if I may add to that so we actually piggy back off of the County's uh licensing and uh it came from the county that we pay our bill if you will so I just wanted to add to that uh and uh respect the fact that we can get that bulk price from our uh from our uh Partners if you will but we can certainly provide you with an iPad tomorrow if you could thank you uh may I get a roll call Madam to proove a motion to approve by councilman Coy can a second for R8 87 r87 motion approve r87 second second by councilman pill for r87 roll call council member brusher yes council member Coyle yes coun council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schmell yes council president Patel yes maybe your prescrition r88 councilman brusher uh yes 88 um I did receive the list uh from the street so I I thank you for that but if that could be provided with the street like whenever we we do this um if I could just get that on that Friday so that I could spend the you know what is I I didn't go through all the streets I went down a couple of them and and they do look good but if you gave me the whole weekend I would spend the weekend just driving around anyway understood we'll have that for you ahead of time with the paperwork all right thank you motion to approve uh may I get a so motion to approve r88 by councilman Patel may I get a second second uh second by councilman pointer may I get a roll call council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member ptil yes council member poiner yes council member shl yes council president Patel yes and r113 councilman Brer yes I I looked at the list um for our fire trucks and I'd like to I'd like to go see these fire trucks the the okay so I I understand we're getting a new one I get it's 20 years old they should last about 25 years so you know it's right in that time period but I noticed on the list that there were a couple of them that were listed as poor as far as condition um now so I I'd like to see what actually a poor looking fir Tru looks like and the one that really concerned me was there was one that was in poor condition that had like 44,000 miles on it um like that would be the first one I want to go look at we can certainly schedule something for you to come and take a look thank you any approve um I got a motion to approve r113 by councilman poel may I get a second second second by councilman pointer may I get a roll call council member brusher yes council member coil yes council member ptil yes council member poiner yes council member schal yes council president Patel yes and uh a motion to accept the communication from buau Patel motion accept uh motion from councilman p a second second second by councilman pointer all in favor glad your glasses are working better all right uh oral petitions and remarks uh anybody that would like to speak on any topic all right first um council president I would like you to do your job and not allow a council member to interrupt me every time I'm talking because that's your job you're supposed to keep order and the person and your council member Coyle screams out every time I'm up here talking okay so there's something wrong with you not point of order she made a false statement okay that's something wrong with that okay so your lawyer knows that too that he's not supposed to be interrupting me okay thank you first of all somebody wants to know why are we withholding funds from the library that's what they told me they said we withholding funds from the library and there's no Communications whatsoever so that has to be asked and I want to know where the list of 75 streets the psse worked on in Edison uh number two don't worry I got it all written down so you can answer it how many streets were paved in 2022 how many change orders did CME have in 2023 is Comcast using optimum's lines or are they building their own infrastructure where is my cap I was supposed to be giving a copy number six when is the Senior Citizen building on idile road going to be finished and will and will it still remain under the name of Dr to many beille centers always house senior citizens and preschool children during the day are we changing the name and taking it away from our middle school and high school student because you we have you have failed to bring programs for them to this building did you know that this is the only recreational facility on the north side of town are we going to repair our water sewer system or B or or put a bandage on for for the frequent water breaks have we moved the espes from the Stelton building and are we removing the name darthy k draw from the newly renovated building okay why doesn't the council president um my senior citizen friends felt like you did not answer any of their question questions after they left they went home and they say the council president didn't answer a question why do we have to wait until the end of a meeting for answers we don't receive and uh Black History Month is an American celebration is not acknowledging Edis and why other groups receive recognition is this Administration antiblack and anti- senior citizens and why are we withholding Financial runds from our libraries I'll give this to Marina whatever I give this yeah can you give it to Marina yeah so they can answer the but they don't seem to answer all right uh Sonia do you want to answer them um sure with regard to documents that were requested I I would just lean on to the clerk's office through the oper request if there are specific documents that are being requested to uh contact the clerk's office there's uh let me just follow here there's no uh indication that any name change would be to either the to Center or the Stelton building um no construction has started on the Stelton building so and we do understand that there may be a species and we are dealing we will deal with the that uh with regard to the library as there is no funding being held I can assure everyone of that and confirm and we have communicated um at every level with the library uh Library director and attorneys regarding uh any obligation so um with regard to Celebration of Black History Month the township did have a wonderful and successful event at mini BF earlier this month was very well attended and there was a uh competition with the school children um if there's any other specific question uh uh you please continue sure there's no back and forth council president point of order point of order Sonia please continue in sure and I believe that that's all I have here uh there was also the question about the 75 Street PSG worked on is there a list of that um if if there is an opah request that anybody would like to put in certainly we can provide any information okay and do we know how many streets were paved in 2022 I believe that list has been provided now several times to the council um I can certainly share that with Cheryl and she can pass it along okay and the change order for the CM any for 202 again any of those documents certainly can uh we can provide resolutions to support that yeah and do you know if Comcast is using Optimum line or are they building their own Comcast is independent of optimum yeah so I think they would okay and then there's a question about where is my cap capap a copy of it I'm not sure but if you go to Marina if there's anything that you know just specify which one you needed I think we can get that too okay uh uh are we going to repair our water silver system or bandage frequent water brakes I think we are working on it but I'll let you answer it we currently are working and um the council at the last last meeting actually um had two two Professional Services contracts um two resolutions adopted and approved so we are making Headway with professionals to get all of that infrastructure addressed as it relates to the ACO as well okay and then anything else that the council can answer we'll wait till the end uh anyone else El wants to speak to the or I know Jee hello Thomas Ley Netherwood Circle you're recognized okay uh I was here at the last combined meeting I asked about uh issues with parents parking on new do road in front of the in front of John Adams creating a traffic Hazard uh I W I left not knowing not hearing what the council response was or from the business administrator could somebody shed some white on that uh so I will let Sonia answer this sure so shortly after our meeting I did touch base with our Traffic Unit and they have been monitoring they are aware and are cognizant that during that time that they would be um doing enforcement okay if the issue persists then please of course um I'll address it tomorrow with them because it's not it's not gotten any better it's actually getting worse but hey wheels of progress turn slow okay now for a real Firestorm during uh the last council meeting we were talking about you pass an ordinance for uh replacing the water meters for the Edison uh Water Authority I'm one of those people that don't have Edison water uh I think that cost should be borne by them the the the property owners that are that have Edison water uh I don't you know when middle sex water changed my meter it was built into the cost of the the system I think that that would be only fair then I started thinking okay I live in a north side of town I was I I I bought I bought my house in 1982 at that time Edison didn't want it appeared to ex expand its DPW with uh vehicles uh garbage trucks Personnel Etc I pay for my private I pay for private garbage I've paid for it for the 42 years that I've lived in my house when an ordinance comes up for the town for new garbage trucks Etc as well as the Staffing those am I have I been taxed based on that because like back in you know all I could think of is like back in 17 you know the 1700s you know no taxation with representation and all that sort of stuff Boston Tea Party I don't think I hope I hope that I'm not being Mis you know or the the taxpayers that pay for private pickup aren't being double taxed it just seems it seems unfair is there any way that through the business administrator or so we I can get a line item breakdown of what what what's the buildup cost for that because I don't think that it's it's it's it's fair and Equitable for me paying private to actually being it's actually being double dipped now that's just a loow hanging fruit that I see but I'm sure as as you start going and digging deeper there there's probably going to be other issues that are that bubble up so you know if if somebody could look into that get back to me or or post posted somewhere what you know what's the makeup for the you know for the water uh Edison water users versus non as well as the uh as well as the uh private versus public garbage because it just it just doesn't seem fair that we we would have to pay double for that that's all I want to say uh who would uh who would uh be able to answer that question what private and the public I can con if you don't mind I can answer that because I have the history of is there a way we can do it after the public people will answer for you questions yes uh if you don't mind once we public comments on councilman PTO will answer it for you okay all right okay I'll wait for your respon thank you anyone else you can come on up the you can talk about anything you like [Music] 796 streets Edison New Jersey um many of us from clabon were here on Monday to talk to you and to ask for a request and um oor talked about um some things also so and we were told that they will get back to us or the question will be answered later but we didn't really get anything um so ask uh she asked that um she she said an appeal that uh she she wants you to consider to repeal the level of the houses to three story building that you make it uh three She also asked to for the repeal of um 1936 stroke 2016 and uh nich asked the anony at the end of the Monday meeting um that he will get back to or something that he will get back to her but up to now she has not has um an answer all we are talking about is um we are requesting for a sidewalk for the building New Jersey Law and ordinance by Ed said that since abat is the middle school is about 0.3 miles away from the the the the the building that is side work is needed we have come to talk to you that you should allow the applicant to are there at least do that what New Jersey requested and Edison requested that there should be a sidewalk so that when the kids are going back and forth from school they will be able to work on that because already the place is crowded and there are a lot of cars and um we want you to consider it and get back to us so that we know that's why I'm here and I brought it up at that point because I want um councilman called to be ready we are constantly here there are about three of you representing us there are days that your agenda we came will come empty you have nothing to talk about you live in the same community at least you drive around you should be able to know that people are talking some people are taking action they stop you they talk to you why is it so difficult for you to come here and talk about what we are constantly talking about is it hard find a place in your heart to talk about it John there about three of you talk about what is pressing us down continuously if a lot is going just a lot you replace make sure that it's replaced by at least 12 or three one bedroom with a den there's nowhere for them to park the things that are needed for people to move around is not available there's no Community Center there's nothing working in that place the road is overcrowded the children are going to school and we keep on telling people come Edison is good clab is good people are coming in it's not safe for them to move I think all we have to do is to keep on requesting appealing maybe one of these days lck will shine on us like the people from the North and the right will be done by us thank you thank you uh looking at the clock here you know we have only 6 minutes left you know is there a motion to approve the council meeting for another 30 minutes a motion to meeting we have no oh who's who's the council president fine acting council president um I'll motion to send the meeting till 11:30 p.m. 11:15 is there a second there only three people left I'm kidding just to be honest second second Council second all in favor I I now we have council president I all right uh come on up okay Jerry she Edison uh since I came here I might have stick to the end so why you 15 minutes come on to the end 20 20 minutes all right so um uh council president um if I can uh get a list of all the bounds that was issued after January 1 2022 uh I like to know the purpose of the bond the length of the bond 15 years 20 years five years uh the interest rate of the bond and the total dollar amount the list of all that um second uh um you guys you know mentioning point of order point of order all the time but you interrupt people when they're coming here to speak they wait for the return they come here to speak just let them speak council president you are the presiding officer of the meeting you you you you need to get people in control that all right um the other thing is about the rebuttal um you're answering questions after you close the public comments and public when they have first they have to wait till the end to uh hear your answers and if they want to rebuttle the answer what you give they want a clarifications they don't have a chance so something for you to consider of uh at least let people speak the the the the opportunity to rebuttle after you made your your your um answers to those questions otherwise you the rebuttal does not exist um and the other things you know we we today most people talk about the Cannabis and a lot of the discussions this the decision is very very simple I'm a army dead right so when I talk to my kid it's you know we talked about do not let others do the you don't want yourself to to be in okay so the decision is very very simple when it comes to things like that if you do not want a cannabis shop in your backyard do not put in somebody else backyard so thank you very much thank you Jer as for the list of the bonds you can request it from the clerk and they should be able to provide it to you uh as for the rebuttal I'll have the legal counsel answer well the the formal rebuttal process uh I guess uh that's as part of the procedures is intended for the public portion of the discussion not for the council members um aside from that I I can't really address um the the council's procedure with respect to that but uh I I will say this um the council president can't both just let people speak um and also still control the meeting there there has to be rules of decorum and debate uh and that's what the process is there for to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance to be heard uh and gets a fair chance to have their issue raised and addressed while at the meeting itself otherwise it becomes chaos okay uh anyone else that wants to speak uh there's no back and forth please it's funny it isn't allowed it in his own board meeting for the Board of Ed but he wants to change it here but there is no back and forth he never did watch your point of order point of order point of order oor all right can I get the name and address Octor Master Pleasant Avenue you recognized now I'm going to start off saying this that I'm going to be blunt no pun intended as a committee man I'm supposed to take an issue and bring it to your attention and I did actually I did more than that to me it feels like I'm being a public Advocate I brought the safety of cabat Avenue to the attention of Code Enforcement the planning board master plan Boe and the principal at Herbert Hoover Middle School I even filed an uper report but I'm still not done have a few more contacts to make question is what have you done why aren't you helping me I sent out an email since Monday haven't got in responses the only person that has responded to me was President Burl from the Board of Education and superintendent Alder Ali are they the only ones that are concerned about Public Safety because that's what it feels like right now which council member is prepared to initiate an inquiry with the planning board at TRC to investigate why Dem mandated sidewalks were emitted from the plans for lot 1.03 if it was truly an oversight at the TRC then why wasn't this addressed when I spoke at the planning board it just got dismissed something's a Miss as I said before the system is broken in the plans for lot 1.03 I did not see a request for a variance on the sidewalk but if there were it would have been struck down because I found some other ordinances 39-44 J and 39-7 do3 due to the proximity to the school that is not a request that they can make if you look around clar bar and any of the new subdivisions or any buildings like Camelot and many of the buildings on waltuma and Brower they have sidewalks it's a safety issue and it is the law I'm extremely frustrated with the workings of the municipality at minimum expected the three Council people from Clara bar to reach out to me for the specifics in my email and let me know that they were on top of it the issue I raise is not selfish it is a procedural issue that affects all of Edis the issue that I raised Demands a quick response from the people that I emailed so some questions couple other questions which council member will assist me ensuring that a sidewalk is incorporated into the upcoming site plan for 1.03 if it ever comes to the planning board additionally who will support me in guaranteeing that any future applications align with the ordinances that I have shared through email particularly regarding the inclusions of sidewalks by the way um council president I emailed you my questions to you I sincerely hope that the development by Charlie Brown will not encounter the issues that we are having currently at um C Avenue I urge you not to claim helplessness in this matter is a straightforward issue and I provided all the necessary ordinances for your success it is CR is crucial and critical for you to ensure the enforcement of these ordinances you pass if that proves challenging then you should refrain refrain from passing ordinances I requests to be put on copy of communications that you send to code enforcement plan board or whichever entity will resolve these issues I look forward to the council working with me to resolve the TRC oversight and the safety of claraa bar residence and Edison as a whole I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the public here it shouldn't have been that that were the case where we had that many people but it is how it is I hope they continue to be engaged final question how and why do cannabis come up at this juncture we heard it was the answer before was that it was Administration I'm wonder if you can clarify exactly who the people are of administration thank you in terms of uh the I'm not familiar with that or uh planning board case do you have any more I'll I'll keep comments to the end at the end okay and Sonia uh do you have any answers okay anyone else wants to make a comment good evening Ben from medicine insurity I have the floor council president you do all right awesome um this was a nice uh discussion and debate about the Cannabis so I I guess we all voted no on it this is just I guess temporarily until we get more information about the Cannabis and the safety of cannabis and I'm all for it for AG green no or yes but um like I said let's just get a special vote down the road and let the majority of the Edis and residents decide um I don't want to be too distracted with the Lakers and the Clippers on ESPN by the way go Lakers um uh I want to talk about the agenda what is it the agenda no a resolution 115 d0 22024 now we are what is it purchasing a police vehicle through Cranford police okay um I didn't read the resolutions but I I I see it but like I guess we're getting more stuff for the police department I guess and we're also cracking down the driving Crackdown for resolution 14 14-0 22024 I guess good good good since we are doing that and also um getting those license plate readers I think uh Joi said there will be more coming of so that also reminds me where are those are station at there was 86 I guess the the mayor said there will be double that where that's going to come like where where are you guys are going to start putting it right by the crossroads from different sections of the town that literally just touches every other um Township Sonia I'm not sure if you're allowed to dulge us to where these license plate readers are no okay well will that be dis um discussed in the near future where it's spanding out about no okay so it's so the public won't know okay well that's interesting um um okay so also I wanted to I need to address this it's about the postal office in Edison New Jersey by the way as you know that Jersey Watcher is back on YouTube by the way since he dismissed since the charges were dismissed when he didn't do nothing wrong he goes to the post office last week he didn't do nothing wrong he was following his Constitution protected right some of these post office office they don't even know what post are said seven is so you're allowed to record um the post office but you can't record sensitive customer information I I i' seen too many videos the restricted areas the the F footed the folio or something like that like he can like he can't like zoom in like you know cuz that's C you know he it's weird cuz one of the officers said oh kristo is up up with his San no he's not he's doing his Constitution protected activity he's doing his first amendment so I I would like to have the post office address this next time before they make more accusation because that right there will be a lawsuit Mr Christo will be suing the post office because the way what they told the police department about what he was doing when he didn't do nothing wrong I don't appreciate that um I don't know what else to say I I I haven't been here for I've I've been busy and I I've been hearing you long meetings this is this is what a day I know you guys are tired and I I want to go home everyone it's already 11:07 so if any if you're going to speak and all right I have nothing to say thank you oh let's follow this cannabis down the road later on um like I said my boss um NJ smoker club I'm his assistant by the way they were trying to do something but because of this we got to find we got to strategize we all got to work together to make some improvements this is just small this you know hopefully we can bring this up at another point but yeah I digress and I remain my time for any rebuttal thank you very much now Crystal you can come up okay am I recognized you recognized thank you I'm I'm confused as as to what happened today because here here we had some Boe members Jerry gets away with it because he's not an active Boe member but barell Patel is an active Boe member so it's not the boe's jurisdiction to get involved in Township matters why do we have Boe people coming here telling you guys to go against the will of the Edison residents they have no jurisdiction and um keep in mind I'm I will be winning my ethics complaint against baral Patel on March 4th it's going to be an auto win but barell and his first of all a Boe member they can't endorse um it's a illegal for a Boe member to endorse anybody that uh there's case law on that the same goes here you just had a Boe member today he was endorsing an agenda within this Township I'm going to write that ethics complaint myself and I'm going to win it um through the chair of councilman Brasher councilman Cole um or anybody anybody who has wants to talk about it um you know the council president's job is to keep order I'm not saying anything bad on on the council president but the council president's job is to keep order and when I'm doing lawful activity I'm getting surrounded by cops I'm getting arrested I'm being ordered out of here and it's strange to me that I just witnessed a room full of people acting like animals and I feel that they were told by Sam Joi or somebody to come in here who whatever it is and and promote not to have weed shops like I said I weed shop right on top of du Close Avenue um whatever it's Edison I mean Howen Park border but so we're losing out all this money we're having Boe members come in here telling their friends and WhatsApp groups to come in here fill this place up it's making this whole whole place unsafe they start act acting like animals they've done it before through the chair to councilman brusher you remember the captain Todd incident it's not the first time mob roll takes over and we've had Council people not wanting to do anything about it instead they they they do no matter the what the crowd wanted them to do no matter how leg it was so why why didn't the council president today order these people removed council president I I want to know why didn't you order these people removed I constant I'm constantly thrown out of here doing lawful activity for what reason for what reason for me I feel biased I feel discrimination John Mr I honestly feel that the bi of the discrimination um I I just don't understand it uh why weren't they removed I I really want to someone has to answer me why weren't they removed they committed a 2C violation they disrupted a public meeting uh through their audio with being too loud you guys could not proceed with your meeting you understand um I don't I don't understand you didn't you didn't try to keep order you didn't call for a recess when when any of this was going on um is it because you guys don't want to lose votes or something count you you as a lawyer you should know are you also the parliamentarian as well you are the parliamentarian so why didn't you step in to keep order when the council president didn't do it maybe because a lack of knowledge why why did you not do it and you kept us unsafe I felt I there there were moments in this room I did feel unsafe and that is how I feel um in the future please when when you see M BR start taking place step in have them thrown out people like him they don't want to lose votes but you don't get voted for you should have stepped in you should have had them removed immediately and I might file a Tor claim I might file a Tor claim because of it I'm going to look into it how much time do I have left marlina almost one minute almost one minute I love black hisory month it's in January I love you too Joyce has one minute all right um um so people can rebuttle but please Council Council uh through the council coil or or Brasher please please do answer that because I'm I'm a little flabbergasted I don't even know if any of these people were Edison residents they they were given so much privilege was that privilege afforded to them because the mayor told them to come here to promote his agenda that I'm I'm pretty that's I'm curious about that more more Edison resid the Edison residents they said they wanted the marijuana so why why are we filling this room up with Sam Joy supporters and just going against the will of of Edison people we want pot shops the pot shops the pot was here before thank you I'm going to go sit down thank you okay anyone for the first before Council uh Nick Fagen 42 Edgewood you recognized thank you council president um last week or recently I came up here and I talked about the trees that were cut down at 225 planfield and two 31 play field I believe um I thought and correct me if I'm wrong but I thought council president you had asked the lawyer to get you the fine amounts I don't know if you got those amounts I didn't I didn't ask for them but I would like to know what they were just like you would like to know what they were I advise the council president of that last week if you give me a few minutes I can point you to the point in the ordinance where it has the funds that would be awesome thank you and then um uh to do you want to follow up on those trees with Sonia to see what happened or yeah from through the C through the chair to the business administrator I I haven't gotten a phone call back from Mr aot or Mr Jones Okay um about these trees so I've still got the pictures I don't know what to do with them uh I don't know what enforcements actions have been taken um so so I did follow up with our planning and engineering team and though the proper application and permits were taken out oh they were taken out I was told by when I called in that they they did not have any for those permits so did you speak who did you speak to I spoke with zoning uh I the desk the the the zoning folks upstairs um I can certainly provide you my information as well as my email in the event that any situation arises I can certainly provide a more direct answer to you I appreciate it yeah they were I mean they're huge trees they're 200 years old so um and it's just a shame there were at least a dozen of them just leveled so um we don't want to make we want to make sure that our our ordinances are protecting those trees right I feel like The Lorax are they speak for the trees so thank you have a good Nick Mr Fagan 25-16 of the code provides for the violations and penalties um it's pursuant to the general ordinance violations which can be up to I believe 20 per violation per day uh it also allows for an action in Chancery to force the replacement of the trees or to enforce the other portions of the code so those would be the the the violation penalties thank you sir all right uh anyone for first time seeing none any rebuttal now that I'm here for rebuttal I'm glad that I have a history teacher over here in the corner and he knows and he can say when is Black History Month February thank you a history teacher knows it's February I get tired of this game you playing like you don't know it you can go in any other Town matter of fact you can ride down the street to St Joe's and you'll see black history mut blaring letters I it's it's embarrassing that you could be that ignorant to think that January is in no other neighborhood thinks that very embarrassing um Crystal thank you am I recognized you're recognized I disagree with what Commander Ben said on the post office and the the reason why I say that is because the first officer through the chair to councilman bresser the first off what's up B you can stand here me V you you will have to sit down it's okay they can't be two people has to be one all right you do it with with husbands and wives we how do you know we're not a couple we are you disagre we could possibly it's okay maybe you know what maybe we're a couple and I'm going to see you guys for keeping him away um that they could be a possible lawsuit as well but I want to speak about the what AJ said on on the um post office I disagree the reason why I disagree with what AJ said on the post office is because um well the first office officer that arrived on the scene he he was already being biased he was already discriminating against me um you can see in the video that he claims that they told him I first of all you don't have to buy a stamp but when the one woman told him no I didn't buy a stamp you can hear the other guy say well yeah he did buy a stamp I sold it to him so does this cop have selective hearing or was he trying to push an agenda you know what's what's going on it took the second cop that to arrive on the scene officer Hutchinson to do a prop what are you rebutting I'm rebutting what he said about the post office so he disagree what I'm saying so exactly so uh I love you a commander Ben how much time do I have left they almost one minute one minute so officer Hutchinson took control of the scene and the only thing I'm officer Hutchinson's awesome God bless officer Hutchinson for educating those uh stent bid postal employees but one thing you see in the video through the chair councilman bring coil is that the postal employees lied to the Edison police uh they lied to the Edison police several times speaker one minute yet they were never charged they were never charged with the crime uh officer karino Mayo thinks that because he didn't make a report that you can't charge them for filing a false report you can still charge him for obstruction of justice uh lawyer I'd like you to answer that question can you still charge somebody for calling the police and lying to the police even if a report was not made I I feel that's obstruction of justice obstructing the administration of Law and um and and you can even you can even hear that uh even though officer Hutchinson did a good job you can hear there is a little bit that people think oh we're going in recording to make a scene or to harass people why are people not allowed to do their lawful activity because it's legal to do why why does there always have to be somebody gaslighting someone and trying to control the narrative like right thank you we're doing just one one three seconds done that we're trying to do some kind of Nefarious Activity thank you okay I I I wish you treated all those people out there I wish you police those people out there please sit down thank you all but what I are you are you rebutting yes I'm I'm rebutting what he said about the about the post office you can't the point not stupid post off officers that's not a rotal sir you can sit down they're not educated with their the post office is not educated with their rules and how they fall they're not stupid they uneducated that's all may I get a motion to close the public portion motion to close the public portion motion from Council seconded by councilman ptil all in favor Patel can you answer the question for yeah thank you thank you for staying late you know your first one was the new door traffic you know this was discussed during the the council and the Board of Ed liazon meeting uh the the discussions were up with the the Traffic Unit the principals superent is aware so they will come up with some sort of a suggestion that how the traffic could be routed in that neighborhood so this topic was discussed and stay tuned for the further updates your second second question was on the water meter you know if you watch the last council meeting that there was a specific question even the bond is underr for the from the township bucket but the payment to the bond and Son again this this was I'm kind of repeating that the payment of the bond will go from the Edison water utility so there is no hit to the taxpayers throughout the town and your third one was the public private garbage I I believe you know uh this issue has been discussed numerous times during my last eight years on the council we have people who have the public uh garbage pickup they want to opt out on they are looking for the private so if you look at the tax treatment for the the the residents who have the public garbage pickup is different than what the for the private one so if you want you know you can leave the email I'll be happy to send you the comparison because you know my district in my area itself was trying to opt out but because of the New Jersey statue we are not allowed to opt out from the public garbage hopefully thats question thank you coun councilman uh thank you council president um just want to address a couple of the questions that were brought up uh particularly with the parking on Caba Avenue uh just for clarification that was noted in the TRC report that I had which is one of the reasons why I brought it up at the planning board uh to our attorney if I could ask the address I believe is 1041 Amboy and is is my understanding that there is a easement agreement that was previously provided by the township to the property owner I don't know anything outside of that that is just what I was uh informed with the TRC document so if we can look into that because that would take um that would play a role in this uh just for clarification there's a difference if you could email me that address so that I absolutely and I will absolutely forward uh Mr nasser's email as well uh just for clarification there is a difference between a variance and a a design waiver so to say so um the applicant does have the ability to seek waivers in regards to the sidewalk we may not like it but that's within their rights and it is not under the trc's uh jurisdiction to dictate to the applicant how they make their case um the tree fines that ranges uh to what Mr Fagan has said that ranges from the minimum of $100 to a maximum of 2,000 um I would like to see us codify that a little bit better so that uh maybe less or maybe more on the minimum side and if there or repeat offenders maybe having a grading scale with that um the trash pickedup I know councilman ptil had just mentioned and he can clarify if I'm wrong but if you look at your tax bill it should be under the sanitation line and if you have private collection it should say zero so um and you mentioned about the cameras and where they're located which is a a safety concern uh that would be yet thank you council president thank you councilman po pointer anyone else Council rusher yes council president um the rebuttal council president can I inter for just a minute because we are 11:25 we extended this council meeting until 11:30 okay if councilman is going to talk for 5 minutes did we only do to 11:15 we're already 11:30 11:30 if you're going to take more than in three minutes Rich okay just continue and if anything after he's done we can m to EXT okay um right all I want to say with the rebuttal was a resident came up and he spoke about the rebuttal when the resident comes up and they ask their questions we don't answer right the administration answers and the the week prior there was a question about meters right and and what we heard was that the meters were for all of Edison but it's not true the the meters are for South Edison okay but they're for all of Edison's water company so so there's a little bit of um confusion in the wording now if the resident was able to rebuttal right when he got that answer or or council member was able to do it the resident wouldn't have to come to this meeting and ask the same question again when the one resident came up now and spoke if he didn't stay he would wouldn't get his answers um if he did hear something and it was incorrect and then I went to correct it right he doesn't even have an opportunity to speak after it gets corrected because we shut off the public portion you know the we shouldn't shut up the public portion until we speak to the public is as where as going with the rebuttal um and that would be it sir can we get a motion to I'll be 30 seconds okay go ahead 30 seconds I was just responding to Octor who spoke about Amboy Avenue um half your questions are planning board issues I think it's obvious but I see you all the time it's the first time I've heard about the side workk issue I'm sorry if I missed your email but if I can do anything I'll do my best to look into it all right um motion to adjourn motion to adjourn may I get a second second all in favor I all right this meeting is returned 11:28